All divisions of the Emergency Ministry in Maritime Territory have been put on high alert due to the current wildfire situation in the region.

As of 10 AM Khabarovsk time, 8 October 2017, there are 62 wildfires in an area of 1,695 ha, including 23 contained ones. 3 fires were put out yesterday in an area of 8.5 ha.

379 people and 93 units of equipment are battling wildfires now, as well as 2 Emergency Ministry’s Beriyev Be-200ChS planes, which made 15 discharges dropping some 150 tons of water.

The Single State Disaster Management System also deployed 3 aircraft of the Maritime Airbase of terrain forest protection.

The team is planned to be reinforced. There is no threat to settlements and the situation is under round-the-clock monitoring. The situation is under control.

Emergency Ministry’s employees are taking active preventive efforts by talking to local people about fire safety rules in forests and farmlands. They are talking to representatives of hunting, fishing and gardening communities, as well as owners and lessees of forests.

The main causes of wildfires are human factor and negligent handling of fire during work or holidays. Most of the wildfires happen because of agricultural burning, burning of waste, fires at picnic sites, during hunting, from burning matches or cigarette butts. Statistics of heat anomalies show that the surges in such anomalies happened at the weekends when a lot of people go to the countryside.

The Russian Emergency Ministry reminds that violation of laws is a crime punishable by a fine or prison term. The maximum punishment for breaking a fire ban is a fine of up to 3 million rubles and up to 10 years in prison.