The first forest fire of 2012 has been put out in Chechnya, spokesman of the Federal Agency for Forest Economy Vladimir Dmitriyev said, RIA Novosti reports.
The fire started at the Shelkovsky Forest District on March 10. 19 people and an equipment unit were mobilized to extinguish it. The fire covered 38 hectares, with 8 hectares of forest. The fire was caused by dry grass.
The federal agency said that 20,800 fires were registered in Russia in 2011, dropping by a third, compared with 2010 and by a quarter, compared with 2008-2009. Areas covered in fire dropped from 2.1 million hectares in 2010 to 1.6 million.
