Russian Military Aviation Extinguished Wildfire Across 1.8Mln Acres in Siberia in 4 Days

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The aviation of the Russian Defence Ministry has managed to extinguish forest fires across an area of at least 1.8 million acres in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Irkutsk Region in Russia's Siberia in four days, the ministry said. "During the four days of the work of the ministry's aviation in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Irkutsk Region, the forest fires across an area of ​​753,000 hectares [1.8 million acres] were extinguished", the statement said. The ministry added that on 4 August, Il-76 jets made 24 sorties and dropped 1,008 tonnes of water onto the areas engulfed by the fire. In addition, Mi-8 helicopters made 37 sorties and dropped 650 tonnes. ​The wildfires have been devastating Siberia and several other Russia’s areas since late July. The state of emergency has been imposed in five regions. The wildfires have spread across 6.7 million acres. Read more: https://sputniknews.com/russia/201908041076460669-russian-military-aviation-extinguished-wildfire-across-18mln-acres-in-siberia/