Wednesday, August 16 2017 10:40

ArmInfo. Despite the difficult weather conditions, the Russian Il-76 continues to take an  active part in extinguishing the fire that broke out in the Khosrov Reserve on August 12.

As the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of  Armenia told ArmInfo, on August 15, the Russian board of the Ministry  of Emergency Situations carried out 6 flights to the site of the  fire. It is noted that from 16 km around the perimeter of the fire it  was possible to localize 13.5 km, at the moment, work is under way to  localize the fire for the remaining 2.5 km around the perimeter.

At the same time, the department stresses that both Russian forces of  the Ministry of Emergency Situations and environmentalists, local  residents and servicemen are involved in extinguishing the fire.  Today, the departure of the Russian Il-76 to the site of the fire is  also planned.

The Il-76 special dispatching vehicle of the Ministry of Emergency  Situations of Russia arrived in Yerevan on the evening of August 14  with the purpose of participating in an operation to extinguish a  fire in the Khosrov Reserve. The first flight IL-76 performed on  August 15 at 08.50. According to some reports, about 700 hectares of  juniper woodlands in the Vayotsor region are now burning near the  territory of the Artavan village and over 1000 hectares of forest in  the Khosrov Reserve. The fires began on August 10 and, due to the hot  weather and winds, began to spread rapidly over difficult terrain.  Attempts to cope with the fire by the Armenian Ministry of Emergency  Situations, due to very limited technical capabilities, have not yet  been crowned with success. In connection with this, a request was  sent to the Russian colleagues.  As of 12.00 on August 15, in the  state reserve "Khosrov Forest", the vegetation was burnt by a circle  of 16 km, of which 360 hectares of forest.