Wildfires in Russia's Ryazan Region Destroy 2,100 Acres Over Last 24 Hours

24.08.2022 22:35

Wildfires in Russia's Ryazan Region Destroy 2,100 Acres Over Last 24 Hours
Sputnik / Valery Melnikov

The area of wildfires in Russia's Ryazan region has expanded by almost 850 hectares (2,100 acres) over the past day and swept a total of 9,400 hectares (23,200 acres), the emergency services said on Tuesday.

"As of 03:00 GMT on Monday, the area of forest fires in the Ryazan Region spread to over 8,620 hectares, and by 07:00 GMT on Tuesday it spread over 9,470 hectares," the spokesman said.

The region introduced a state of emergency on Monday.

Last week, the regional government said that a dry thunderstorm, a natural phenomenon occurring in dry conditions and low humidity, ignited wildfires in the area.

The Federal Agency for Forestry (Rosleskhoz) blamed the region's forestry authorities for hiding the real scale of forest fires, which did not allow for the timely build-up of the federal firefighting forces.