YEREVAN, August 15. /ARKA/. Armenia’s ministry of emergency situations said a massive wildfire that broke out near Artavan village in the southeastern Vayots Dzor province last Thursday has destroyed 320 hectares of forests. As of today morning, firemen managed to localize it by digging multilayer trenches (4-10 meters wide) by using special Caterpillar tractor. The ministry said at the moment, there is no threat of spread of fire in this region.



As for the wildfire in the Khosrov Forest Reserve, founded by a 4th century Armenian king, it has been raging for the fourth day. Firefighters, rescuers, army and police forces, as well as ordinary residents and a Russian water-dropping IL76 aircraft have joined the operation to battle the wildfire. The ministry said as of 12:00 pm today the wildfire destroyed vegetation in a 16 km perimeter, including 320 hectares of forests.



According to the ministry, the IL-76 aircraft has already made four goes to extinguish the wildfire in the reserve. "At the moment the plane is preparing for the fifth go," the ministry said. More than 600 local rescuers, six fire-fighting units, two air force helicopters, 132 servicemen, 70 police officers, 50 forestry employees are involved in the fighting the wildfire in the reserve territory, in addition to the Russian airplane. -0-





16:45 15.08.2017