Helicopter crews continue to fight blazes in Siberia that authorities suspect were started deliberately.

The General Prosecutor said it had identified cases in which forest fires in the Irkutsk region of Siberia had been started on purpose so as to hide illegal wood felling, the RIA news agency reported.

Wildfires envelope Siberia, choke Russian cities Huge environmental impact The image shows an aerial view of the wildfires in Russia's Siberia. Massive forest fires are a common occurrence in the region, but the magnitude of this year's blazes has reached an exceptional level with fears of a long-term effect on the environment.

Wildfires envelope Siberia, choke Russian cities High temperatures More than 3.2 million hectares (7.9 million acres) were on fire on Monday alone, mainly in the vast regions of Yakutia in the north and Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk in Siberia, authorities said. The fires, triggered by dry thunderstorms in temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), were spread by strong winds, Russia's federal forestry agency said.

Wildfires envelope Siberia, choke Russian cities Slow to act The picture shows a woman taking part in firefighting exercises for volunteers at the Mechta [Dream] forest summer camp outside Moscow. Russian authorities have been slow to declare emergencies and firefighting efforts have been scaled back over economic concerns. The lackluster response has prompted residents to post pleas for help and demands for action online.

Wildfires envelope Siberia, choke Russian cities Accelerating global warming The fires could exacerbate climate change, warn experts. Greenpeace says almost 12 million hectares have been burnt this year, causing significant CO2 emissions and reducing the future capacity of forest to absorb the carbon dioxide. Some scientists posted satellite images from NASA showing the clouds of smoke reaching Arctic areas.

Wildfires envelope Siberia, choke Russian cities Smog engulfs cities The smoke from the wildfires has affected not only small settlements, but also major cities in western Siberia and the Altai region as well as the Urals such as Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg, and disrupted air travel. The image shows how the smoke has enveloped the city of Kemerovo in southern Siberia. Author: Srinivas Mazumdaru



"We have discovered such cases in Irkutsk region in which it seems fires were covering up illegal logging," the General Prosecutor's spokesman Alexander Kurennoy said.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace said the fires covered 4.3 million hectares and were releasing nearly as much carbon dioxide into the air as emitted by 36 million cars in a year.

Last week President Vladimir Putin ordered troops in to help fight the wildfires but the environmental NGO was damning in its assessment of the way the situation has been handled.

In a statement, Greenpeace said even though the blazes happen frequently, this year they were "unprecedented" in their ferocity.

"These fires should have been put out at the very beginning, but were ignored due to weak policies. Now it has grown into a climate catastrophe that cannot be stopped by human means," Greenpeace activist Anton Beneslavsky said.

jsi/msh (AFP, Reuters)

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