YEKATERINBURG, May 11. Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region Yevgeny Kuyvashev denied reports that saboteurs were the culprits of natural fires, the Department of Information Policy of the region reported.
«I see rumors that the culprits of the fire are saboteurs who walk through the forests and set fire to them on purpose. To be honest, this is nonsense. Fires occur primarily due to the human factor, banal everyday situations, due to careless handling of fire «This year, the rapid spread of fires was greatly affected by the weather. I want to once again ask everyone to be careful, carefully handle fire in nature. We ourselves are responsible for what happens in our forests,» Kuyvashev said in the release.
The head of the region also noted that more than half of the fires have already been localized, and thanked the rescuers and volunteers for fighting them.
According to the information of the regional head office of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, as of Thursday morning, 59 natural fires were active in the Sverdlovsk region, 16 fires were extinguished on a total area of 34.8 thousand hectares, 30 were contained.
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