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Nearly all forest fires put out in Russian Far East

The only fire remained in the Amur Region, but it was localized

© ITAR-TASS/Yuri Smityuk

KHABAROVSK, May 06 /ITAR-TASS/. Nearly all forest fires in Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District have been extinguished, the regional forestry department said Tuesday.

The only fire remained in the Amur Region, but it was localized, the department told Itar-Tass. Overall, nine wildfires (eight in the Amur Region, one in the Primorye Territory) were registered in the Far East over the past 24 hours. As of Tuesday morning, 8 fires were extinguished.

The area engulfed by fire in the Far Eastern Federal District totaled 2,527 hectares, all in the Amur Region, where the key firefighting forces and means were concentrated: 323 people, 50 units of equipment and four aircraft, including three helicopters.

In Primorye, only five people and three units of equipment were involved in the firefighting effort.

Since the start of the fire season in 2014, there have been 1,483 fires on an area of over 305,000 hectares in the Far Eastern District, authorities said. In the same period last year, 304 forest fires were registered there on a total area of 47,000 hectares.

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