Shoigu notes improvement in fire situation in some parts of Russia.

MOSCOW, August 9 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Minister for Emergency
Situations Sergei Shoigu has noted improvement in the fire situation in
some Russian regions.
"The Republic of Mordovia, Tatarstan, the Kirov and Ulyanovsk regions
have worked well," Shoigu said at a telephone conference at the Russian
Ministry for Emergency Situations late on Sunday.
Shoigu has ordered to take Mordovia, Tatarstan, the Lipetsk, Vladimir
and Belgorod regions off fire control. There are no fires in those
regions and even if there are, the fire sources are small.
The fire hazard remains in the Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod regions.
The Ministry for Emergency Situations is promising to liquidate the
peat-bog fires in the Moscow region in the course of next week. Shoigu's
deputy Alexander Chupriyan said that 68 fire sources had been registered
in the Moscow region by 19:00 Moscow time on Sunday. Their number
increased later in the day. "But the total fire area has been reduced by
16 hectares in one day. If the total area engulfed by flames was 256
hectares at 9:00 Moscow time, it's now reduced to 240 hectares. Seven
hectares of peat-bog fires have been extinguished," Chupriyan explained.
"I hope that we will be able to suppress the peat fires in the Moscow
region if we increase efficiency and bring in new equipment," Shoigu
said. He believes that agricultural machinery should be used to irrigate
the fields near Moscow. Thick smog is making the use of aircraft
impossible in the Moscow region. "But the planes are ready. An air group
has been set up. As soon as the weather is right, the aviation will get
down to work and will treat all the forests," the Russian Emergencies
Minister said.
At the telephone conference, Shoigu demanded explanations on
discrepancies in forest fire reports on the Nizhny Novgorod region. A
report of the Federal Forestry Agency said the fires were covering an area
of 150,000 or 80% of the total area of natural fires raging in Russia.
However, local reports say that the real fire area is no more than 56,000
hectares. Shoigu noted that more than 8,000 people and 828 vehicles were
working in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
No open fire sources are reported near the Federal Nuclear Centre in
Sarov, the Nizhny Novgorod region.
"There are no open fire sources near Sarov. Tomorrow, we will start
reducing and withdrawing our units from Sarov. They will be transported to
other fire hazardous regions," Pavel Plat, the deputy head of the Russian
Emergencies Ministry, told Itar-Tass.
The Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations, the Defense and the
Interior Ministries as well as forest services mobilized huge resources to
fight a fire near a Russian nuclear research center in Snezhinsk, the
Chelyabinsk region on Sunday.
Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu believes that work to
extinguish the fire should continue day and night. He said that a
switchover to a round-the-clock regime in the Moscow region had proven to
be effective.
"The same should be done in Snezhinsk," Shoigu emphasized.
The minister received reports that the fire covering an area of 7
hectares had been contained.
"There is no threat to the center's nuclear facilities, and a
helicopter is helping to suppress the flames," the emergencies minister
went on to say.
"I hope you are going to extinguish this fire. Its area is small,"
Shoigu told the fire fighters.
Shoigu said that all efforts should be focused on liquidating the fire
near the nuclear research center.
"So long as there's a fire hazard in the vicinity of the center, all
the forces should be sent there. After that, they can move on to a natural
reserve," the minister explained.
A fire has erupted in a national park in the Chelyabinsk region. It's
covering an area of 40 hectares and hasn't yet been localized.
In the meantime, three French anti-fire experts left for Russia on
Sunday to help fighting forest and peat fires raging in many parts of the
country. The French Foreign Ministry said late on Sunday that the same
plane would deliver 30,000 smoke protection masks to Moscow. A powerful
fire-extinguishing aircraft DASH is expected to arrive in Moscow on Monday.
The French government spokesperson confirmed in an interview with
Itar-Tass on Sunday that France was ready to send experts and relief aid
to Russia. In its statement the French government said that in addition to
three experts who had already left for Moscow France was also sending 120
employees of the fire rescue service, 37 special vehicles, 15 automatic
pumps and a five-member group to control the fire-extinguishing and rescue
operations.
Last Thursday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told his Russian
colleague Dmitry Medvedev that the French authorities would respond to any
request from the Russian government for help in fighting the natural
disaster.


-0-fil/