The areas of forest fires enlarged by 648 hectares in Siberia over the past 24 hours to 2,792 hectares. There are four large fires on 1,870 hectares in the Republic of Tuva and the Trans-Baikal Territory, the press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry's Siberian regional centre reported to Itar-Tass on Monday. Seven blaze outbreaks spread over 1,860 hectares in Tuva, three of them swept 1,480 hectares. One large conflagration spread over 390 hectares in the Trans-Baikal Territory. Forests also burn in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Novosibirsk, Tomsk and Irkutsk regions and the republics of Altai and Buryatia. There is no threat to residential areas and facilities, the press service said. According to the service, 629 people with 81 machines are fighting the fires. Forest guard aircraft carried out 24 patrol flights over the taiga. On the ground, 952 mobile and stationary posts of the Federal Forestry Agency (Rosleskhoz) are stationed to bar access to forests for people. A total of 608 raids were carried out to detect violations of the fire prevention regulations. Forty three cases of such offences were reported. Satellites spotted 14 thermally active points in Siberia on Monday morning. Most of them were confirmed as uncontrolled burning of dry grass.
