Another eight aircraft have been sent to Russia’s northwestern Tver region, bringing to 14 the number of planes and helicopters combating wildfires and peat-bog fires, Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations’ (EMERCOM) spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky told ITAR-TASS on Monday.
Besides, additional teams of 584 firefighters have been sent to the region from some regions in Central Russia. All in all, more than 1,300 people are fighting fires in the region, including more than 1,200 EMERCOM’s rescuers and firefighters. There is no danger for local populations, the spokesman said.
Drobyshevsky said an emergency fire regime was in place in 15 regions of the Russian Central Federal District hit by a heat wave with no rains.
The Tver region has been assigned a class 4 forest fire hazard rating, which means very high danger, when fires start easily and spread rapidly, quickly increasing their intensity.