CHITA, August 1. /TASS/. Russia’s government is expected to draw up plans to set up a forest fire management center in order to monitor the fire situation, prevent forest fires and take urgent measures to extinguish them, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting in Chita.

A government source told reporters that the Emergencies Ministry and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment should present a plan by August 30, together with governors of the regions located in the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts.

In addition, the Emergencies Ministry, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Defense Ministry have been instructed to increase the number of personnel combating blazes in the Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk and Yakutia regions, coordinating their activities with the Federal Forestry Agency and regional authorities.

At a Wednesday meeting chaired by the prime minister, Krasnoyarsk Region Governor Alexander Uss came up with an initiative to create a forest fire management center in the region’s north. The governor pointed out that the establishment of such a center would make it possible to protect forests better.