Threat of large fires remains

The possibility of large natural fires is increasing in the North Caucasus, in the Lower Volga region, in the republic of Buryatiya and Tyva in the south of East Siberia, in the Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk and Chita regions. This forecast was made by the All-Russian centre for monitoring and forecasting emergency cases at the Russian emergency ministry.

The possibility of fires remains on the whole large area of Russia's southern Asian part - on the Altai, in Khakassiya, Yakutiya, in the Khabarovsk and Primorye regions, in the Sakhalin, Kamchatka and Amur regions as well as in the Ust-Ordyn Buryat autonomous district, according to the emergency ministry.

During the last 24 hours, 185 hotbeds were registered in Russia, covering an area of more that 68,000 hectares. 37 of them are large and cover an area of 63,700 hectares. Yakutiya has the largest number of such fires. 23 fires cover an area of about 48,000 hectares. 7 of them are less than 10 km far from populated areas. Most of them are localized, and according to the emergencies ministry's estimations, there is no threat to populated areas or to economic objects.

Since the beginning of the fire-dangerous season natural fires have covered an area of 569,000 hectares, compared with 165,000 hectares during the same period last year. The statistics show that the area of fires in 2002 is 70% larger than an average one, said the ministry.