Forest Fire Problem Persists in Russian Far East
July 9, 2005
Text of report by Russia TV on 9 July
Over 30,000 hectares of forest are now on fire in the Far East, in Yakutia. Sixteen new fires have broken out there during the last 24 hours. The most devastating fire is in Sovetskiy and Gavanskiy Districts in Khabarovsk Region. The fire which covers over 7,000 hectares cannot be extinguished for the third week in a row. It is destroying huge taiga territories, as well as unique forests in Komsomolskiy, Bochinskiy and Sikhote-Alinskiy forest reserves.