Forest fires in Russia have burnt more than 3.5 million hectares of forest in the far north of the country. This area is near the Arctic and emergency officials in the Siberian region of Sakha-Yakutia said that wildfires had spread to 600,000 hectares of land in that region, making it the largest territory in Russia hit by the fires. Sources: Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, Timberbiz
In all, 170 sites in the region have been hit by wildfires since early May, destroying 2.5 million hectares of forest, which is 1% of all forest in Sakha-Yakutia. Since May, wildfire emergencies have been announced in other Siberian and Far East regions, such as Buryatia, Zabaikalye, and Khabarovsk.
According to Avialesookhrana, the total area of active forest fires in Yakutia has reached 600 thousand hectares. There are 170 wildfires in the republic. This is the largest area of fires in Russia at the moment.
Avialesookhrana is the Russian Aerial Forest Protection Service, the Russian government agency tasked with the aerial management of forest fires.
It has been reported that there are around 6000 fire hotspots in Russia with more than 500 active.
These fires are a cause of concern for a numerous reasons including emission levels and timber production, there has been a shortage of timber for Russian sawmills for some time.
