Il-76 aircraft to be used for extinguishing forest fires in Moscow region

It is planned to use an Il-76 fire-fighting plane of the Emergencies Ministry on Wednesday for extinguishing forest fires in the Moscow Region. The aircraft is capable of dropping up to 42 tons of water on a seat of fire, reported the Ministry's press-service.

The Emergencies Ministry aviation is already taking part in fire-extinguishing work at the request of Boris Gromov, governor of the region. Apart from that, the Emergencies Ministry is sending additional forces of the Kurakovo team of civil defence troops and a fire-fighting train to combat the forest fires.

According to the ministry, over 800 people and 240 units of equipment are currently taking part in extinguishing fires burning in the Moscow Region. It is also planned to involve servicemen of the Moscow military district in fire-fighting work.

According to information as of Wednesday morning 119 fires are currently burning on an area of 276 hectares. During the past 24 hours fires burned on a total area of 289 hectares.