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MOSCOW, August 5 (Itar-Tass) - The number of
natural fires raging in Russia is growing. The death toll has reached
50, the information department of Russia’s Emergency Situations
Ministry /EMERCOM/ said on Thursday.
“A dead body was found as the houses burned down
late last week were cleared in the Nizhny Novgorod Region,” the source
said. “A patient died in a hospital in the Voronezh Region, thus the
death toll has reached 50.”
“No more houses were burned over the past day,”
the source said.
There are 843 fires, including 47 fires in peat
fields, the ministry said.
“Over the past day, 373 new fires emerged, and 254
were extinguished, thus there are still 589 fires in Russia which
occupy 196,000 hectares.”
The number of fires grew by 69, and the surface of
fires grew by 7,000 hectares against August 4, the source said.
About every second fire /291/ at 71,000 hectares
is localised.
At the same time, over the past day 15 new peat
fires emerged, and as of Thursday there are still 41 peat fires in
Russia – seven in the Sverdlovsk Region, 29 – in the Moscow Region,
two – in Udmurtia, and one in the Ivanovo, Kostroma and Kaluga regions
each.
There are almost 162,000 firemen and over 26,000
vehicles fighting the fires, EMERCOM said. Over 20 helicopters and
jets extinguish fires. |
