Smoke from forest fires operating in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) covered 81 settlements of the Irkutsk region, but no excess of the maximum permissible concentrations of harmful substances in the air was recorded. This was announced on Friday by the press service of the Main Directorate of the Russian Emergencies Ministry for the Irkutsk Region.
"The northern areas of the Irkutsk region have got into the smoke zone from natural fires currently operating in the neighboring region. These are 11 settlements of the Katangsky district, 20 - Kirensky, six - Bodaibinsky, 19 - Ust-Kutsky, 10 - Ust-Ilimsky, 12 - Nizhneilimsky, two settlements of the Kazachinsko-Lensky region, as well as the city of Ust-Ilimsk, "the message says.
According to the stationary observation points of the Irkutsk Department for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, no cases of high air pollution and exceeding the maximum permissible concentrations of carbon monoxide were recorded.
Yakutia is one of the most flammable regions of the Russian Federation. More than 170 forest fires have been registered there on an area of about 2.5 million hectares. There is an emergency situation in the region.
In the Irkutsk region, forest fires operate on an area of more than 100 thousand hectares. The most difficult situation has developed in the northern regions of the region.