AlQa'dah 4, 1432, Oct 2, 2011, SPA -- The area of wildfires increased by 212.7 hectares in Siberia over the past 24 hours. There are now 24 seats of fire over 565.2 hectares. Out of the total, 17 seats of flames were localized over 502.2 hectares, Itar-Tass learnt on Sunday at the press service of the Siberian regional centre of the Ministry for Emergencies. According to the press service, firefighters spotted last Saturday 43 new seats of fire over an area of 337.5 ha. During the daylight, they put out 28 fires, raging over an area of 182.3 hectares. Besides, they extinguished another eight seats of fire over 213 hectares, spotted in the afternoon of September 30. "The most serious situation is developing in the Trans-Baikal Territory where flames engulfed 380 ha of taiga. Flames spread to 128 ha in the Irkutsk Region. Fires are raging over 46 ha in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and in the Tuva Republic - over an area of 11.2 ha," the press service noted. "As many as 964 people and 228 units of machinery are involved in battling forest fires. Aviation of the Ministry for Emergencies used seven aircraft which made 20 flights for air reconnaissance, smokejumpers and extinguishing fires. They airlifted 374 smokejumpers and 12.5 tonnes of cargoes during the last day. A total of 238 tonnes of water were dropped on seats of fires," specified the ministry. Besides, planes and helicopters of the Avialesookhrana air agency made 12 flights to patrol Siberian forests. Fire inspectors made 249 raids on land to detect cases of violating fire safety in forests; 12 administrative protocols were compiled on lawbreakers. As many as 633 mobile and stationary posts were put up to limit the access to forests and to monitor the situation.
