Firefighters put out 3 forest fires in Russia's Far East

Firefighters and rescuers in Russia's Far East extinguished three forest fires over the past 24 hours and continue battling 11 more forest fires, a spokesman for the regional emergencies ministry said on Sunday. "Satellite monitoring and aircraft surveillance registered a total of 14 forest fires in the last 24 hours. Three of them covering an area 43 hectares were extinguished," the spokesman said. He added that the remaining 11 wildfires had spread over the area of 519 hectares. Wildfires in forested regions of Russia are common during the dry and hot summer season. Most of the time, the fires start because of the careless behavior of local residents in the woods. Wildfires devastated a number of regions in central Russia last summer, killing 62 people and leaving thousands homeless.