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By Anatoly Medetsky
Fires scorching vast woodlands in the Russian Far East have caused authorities of the town of Dalnegorsk and the surrounding area to declare a state of emergency, an official statement said Monday.
Six fires raged across 640 hectares (1,580 acres) of forest in the area, and they were spreading rapidly, said the statement from the administration of the Primorye region, which includes Dalnegorsk.
In all, 54,500 hectares (134,600 acres) of forests were ablaze in the Russian Far East as of Monday, said a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry in Khabarovsk. Most of the fires hit the Amur region, covering 44,300 hectares (109,400 acres).
The spokesman said 1,687 firefighters and 353 vehicles were trying to extinguish the flames.
Railway authorities sent 30 firefighting trains and 20 fire trucks to put out fires along the Trans-Siberian Railroad, said Valery Shigaryov, head of the Railway Ministry's troop division in the Far East.
Forestry authorities have repeatedly complained that their meager budgets make it impossible to effectively prevent or fight fires that destroy large amounts of forests every year.
Warm, dry weather has exacerbated fires across Siberia and the Russian Far East in recent weeks.
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