Nearly 20,000 acres of Siberian taiga were on fire today as a result of picnickers' carelessness and warm, dry weather, according to Siberian emergency officials.
A total of 141 fires have enveloped 19,377 acres of forest in Siberia and the Russian Far East, said Vitaly Tropynin, a duty officer at the Siberian regional emergencies department.
The fires are mostly concentrated in the Irkutsk region, Chita, the Krasnoyarsk region and Buryatia, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.
Tropynin said firefighters had brought the situation under control. He said more than 80% of the fires were caused by negligence of people camping and picnicking in the woods over the recent May Day and Victory Day holidays.
The blazes have spread rapidly because of warm, dry weather, Tropynin said. Much of Siberia has seen unusually warm temperatures of about 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent weeks.
AP