You're reading: Defense Ministry builds water pipelines to fight wildfires

The Russian Defense Ministry has built 10 water pipelines about 90 kilometers in total length and is installing another three 40 kilometers in length to fight forest fires and flood peat bogs in a number of Russian regions, the ministry said in a statement.

Fire situation around the Defense Ministry’s sites is stable and controllable, it said.

"The Defense Ministry has contributed to the efforts to extinguish or contain forest and peat fires in the Kaluga, Tver, and Smolensk regions. The most difficult fire situation is still in place in the regions within the Moscow Military District (the Moscow, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan regions) and the Volga-Urals Military District (the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions)," it said.

Special attention is being attached to fire safety precautions at the military facilities, the statement says. From 50 to 200 servicemen have been kept in reserve at each garrison, and the fire teams at the arsenals and ammunition depots have been put on alert, it said.

"As many as 9,725 Defense Ministry servicemen and 758 pieces of machinery have been engaged [in fighting fires], including 1,198 servicemen and 184 pieces of machinery deployed at military sites," it said.