The area covered by the fire in the Mordovian nature reserve is almost 10 thousand hectares, the press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry told TASS.
"The grouping of forces and means of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia is involved in the elimination of a fire on the territory of the Mordovian State Natural Reserve" Zapovednaya Mordovia "named after P. G. Smidovich. As of 16:00 Moscow time, the area covered by the fire is about 10 thousand hectares," said the department.
According to data from open sources, the total area of the reserve is just over 32 thousand hectares.
There are no threats to settlements yet, the Ministry of Emergency Situations noted. Extinguishing employs 1, 2 thousand people and about 300 pieces of equipment. Nine aircraft of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the National Guard and the Ministry of Defense are involved. Aviation made 42 water discharges weighing 129 tons. There are also three fire trains operating. During the day, additional forces are expected to arrive at the site from the Center for Rescue Operations of Special Risk "Leader" of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, consisting of 50 people and five pieces of equipment.
A fire in the reserve in the Temnikovsky region of Mordovia broke out on August 3 as a result of a thunderstorm in the territory damaged by fires in 2010. Due to the high temperature and gusty winds, fire from the territory of Mordovia approached the Nizhny Novgorod region and the closed city of Sarov, where the Russian Federal Nuclear Center is located.