Russian wildfire nears nuke unit

Aug 14, 2010 |

Moscow, Aug. 13: A fire raging dangerously close to Russia’s main nuclear research centre has grown in size, officials said on Friday, as firefighters battled to cut back hundreds of blazes across the country.

The emergencies ministry said that over 500 fires covering just under 65,000 hectares of land were still ablaze across Russia, down 15,000 hectares from the day earlier, in a crisis that has already left 54 dead.

A huge concern to the authorities has been the fires burning close to the country’s top nuclear research centre in Sarov and officials warned the area affected had expanded in size after a new fire started earlier this week.

Russia has sent thousands of firefighters to douse wildfires close to Sarov, a town in the Nizhny Novgorod region still closed to foreigners as in Soviet times.

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