Forest fire area tripled in Baikal region over past day
Forest fire area tripled in Baikal regionover past day
11June 2008
Publishedby the www.itar-tass.com
IRKUTSK, June 11 (Itar-Tass) – The area of forest fires has tripled over the past day to reach 785 hectares in the Baikal region. Some 56 fires are raging in the taiga, a source in the regional emergencies department told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.
The fires are reported in 21 districts, most of them are spotted less than ten kilometers away from the settlements.
Yet the fires do not pose a threat to houses and other facilities, but the winds are expected to get stronger to 22 meters a second by Wednesday afternoon, dust storms are also expected, so the fire area may grow manifold, the source said.
From the beginning of the fire-prone season in the first decade of April more than 1,800 fires that burnt down 35,000 hectares of the forests were reported in the Baikal taiga.
