Airport in Siberia halts operation because of wildfires

In this grab taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, an air view of smoke from a forest fire in the republic of Sakha also knows as Yakutia, Russia Far East, Saturday, July 17, 2021. The Russian military has used its heavy-lift transport planes to help douse wildfires in Siberia. The Defense Ministry said Saturday that over the last 24 hours the crew of Il-76 military transport planes dropped water on forest fires in Yakutia in northeastern Siberia. The ministry said that military helicopters also dropped water to extinguish fires and also carried firefighters. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

MOSCOW (AP) — An airport in the Siberian city of Yakutsk temporarily halted operations on Sunday after the municipality, along with 50 other towns and settlements, got covered in smoke from wildfires raging in the region.

Russia has been plagued by widespread forest fires, blamed on unusually high temperatures and the neglect of fire safety rules, with Sakha-Yakutia in northeastern Siberia being the worst affected region lately.

Local emergency officials said 187 fires raged in the region on Sunday, and the total areas engulfed by blazes have grown by 100,000 hectares (about 247,000 acres) in the past 24 hours.

Smoke from the fires covered 51 towns, settlements and cities in the region, including the capital Yakutsk, forcing the authorities to suspend all flights in and out of the city.