You're reading: Fire spreading in Altai territory

Fires are spreading in the Altai Territory, with no fatalities reported, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said.

"Fifty houses have burnt down in the village of Nikolayevka in the Altai Territory," Olesya Kukuyeva, spokesperson for the Siberian regional emergency situations center, told Interfax.

Village residents are being evacuated in 14 buses, she said.

No one has been injured by the wildfire, Kukuyeva said.

There are 433 houses in Nikolayevka, with a population of 1,164, according to the Emergency Situations Ministry.

Earlier reports said that fires have been spreading on Wednesday in the southern regions of Siberia, with forest fires raging in the Kamensky district, enveloping 123 hectares in flames, and in the Mikhailovsky district of the Altai Territory, where 130 hectares have been affected, the Siberian regional emergency situations center said.

The forest fire in the Mikhailovsky district is moving towards the populated area of Nevodnoye and has reached Nikolayevka.

Flames have approached the Karnilova village to within 5 kilometers.

The village has a population of 1,100.

More than 70 people and 30 pieces of equipment are involved in the firefighting effort.

Burning grass has been spotted in the Bogradsky district of Khakassia (2 hectares).

Another fire has spread over an area of 5 hectares and crossed into Kazakhstan not far from the village оf Blagoveshchenka in the Novosibirsk region. Twenty-three people are tackling the fire, including border guards, foresters and local officials.