The number of forest and peat bog fires raging across Russia stood at 611 on Thursday, Russia's Federal Forestry Agency said.
"A total of 611 wildfires were registered on August 12," it said.
According to the agency, 16,700 people, 59 aircraft and over 2,600 pieces of equipment are currently working to put out the blazes triggered by a long, record-breaking heat wave.
A total of 26,900 wildfires have been registered in Russia this summer, it said.
No new fires have been reported in the past 24 hours, and the fire-stricken area has been reduced by 15,000 hectares, Vladimir Stepanov, director of the Emergency Situations Ministry’s National Crisis Management Center, told journalists.
"The number of forest fires continues to decline. The area engulfed by fires on Russian territory has been reduced by 15,000 hectares in the past 24 hours," Stepanov said.
Although the fire-stricken area in the Moscow region has decreased by 50 hectares, the Emergency Situations Ministry continues strengthening its firefighting force in the Moscow, Ryazan, Sverdlovsk and Vladimir regions, he said.
