The fire area of dry vegetation and reeds in the Astrakhan Biosphere Reserve has increased to 8,000 hectares, the press service of the specially protected natural area told TASS on Friday.
“The approximate area covered by the natural fire is about 8,000 hectares, including about 350 hectares – forest area (mostly uncovered by forest – burnt areas of previous years),” the report says.
A difficult fire hazard situation has developed near all sections of the specially protected natural area, as well as throughout the Volga Delta since March 13. It was reported that the main firefighting forces were pulled to cordon No. 2 in the area of the Poldnevaya and Sudachya channels in the reserve. On March 16, the fire area almost doubled, up to 7 thousand hectares.
