The devastating forest fires that ravaged much of Yakutia, in Siberia, they are “almost” off, the Russian authorities indicated this Thursday, which seem to be on the verge of overcoming this crisis.
“The president (Vladimir Putin) commissioned us to put out the fires in Yakutia. The task is almost done. There are only some persistent outbreaks left, ”said Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations, Alexander Churian.
This summer (winter in Chile), the fires calcined more than 17.3 million hectares, especially in Yakutia, a huge but very sparsely populated region in northern Siberia.
Only in this region 9.9 million hectares were burned, more than the surface of Portugal. The smoke caused by the fires even reached the North Pole, according to NASA.
This Thursday, the fire still affected 520 thousand hectares, according to the Russian forest protection service. The region currently registers a drop in temperatures, as well as rainfall.
Putin said on Tuesday that Russia would have to draw conclusions from the devastating forest fires in Siberia and promised hundreds of millions of dollars to protect forests.
In recent years, Russia has suffered unprecedented fires across its vast territory, something that experts believe caused by climate change, neglect and insufficient budgets for forest management.
.
