Raging Wildfires Threaten To Raze 800,000 Hectares Of Russian Forests

Severe forest fires in eastern Russia have continued to spread rapidly. Firefighting efforts in the Siberian region of Yakutia were underway on Wednesday across an area of more than 600,000 hectares, according to the Federal Agency for Forestry, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

The affected area includes the Lena Pillars Nature Park, home to the famous Lena rocks. The authorities in Yakutia have declared a state of emergency, though no populated areas are currently at risk, they said.

In Russia's remote wilderness regions, the authorities often just leave wildfires to burn. Numerous other Russian regions are also currently experiencing forest fires.

More than 6,000 people and almost 50 aircraft have been deployed to extinguish more than 300 fires across a total area of almost 800,000 hectares, according to the agency.

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