The authorities of the Republic of Mari El introduced an emergency regime due to large-scale forest fires

On the territory of Mari El, an emergency situation (ES) was introduced due to forest fires, reported press service of the government of the republic.

The corresponding decree was signed by the head of the region Alexander Evstifeev. The document is aimed at the safety of citizens “in order to protect the population and the territories of settlements <...> from forest fires, as well as to prevent possible loss of life and damage to health.”

According to the authorities, the area of ​​forest fires in Mari El today is 120 hectares. Rescuers tried to contain the flames, but gusts of wind again fanned the fire. The day before, August 19, fire approached to the village of Studenka, from where more than 20 residents were evacuated. The settlement of Ustye-Kundysh is also under threat. EMERCOM employees evacuated 634 people from three sanatoriums, 423 of them are children. Because of the fires, traffic on the P176 Vyatka highway was also blocked.

By data Avialesokhrana, in Russia today there are 128 forest fires on an area covered by fire over 1.5 million hectares. Most of the fires were recorded in Yakutia (36), Irkutsk (17) and Sverdlovsk regions (17). Earlier, due to the critical situation with forest fires, an emergency regime was introduced in Yakutia.