IRKUTSK - A 300-hectare wildlife area of the Baikal national park is on fire, an official of the regional department of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday. The fire is raging near the settlement of Polovinnaya on the bank of Lake Baikal. Its tentative cause is a bonfire left behind by tourists. Workers of the national park and the forest service are trying to put out the fire.
A total 120 forest fires on 5,000 hectares have been registered in the Irkutsk region, including 80 near residential areas. The situation is compounded by the wind, the velocity of which reaches 12 meters a second, and by a rainless spell.