YAKUTSK, August 1. /TASS/. Head of Russia’s Sakha (Yakutia) Region Aisen Nikolayev has declared a state of emergency starting on August 1.

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"I decree to declare a state of emergency in forests throughout the region starting on August 1, 2019, because of forest fires raging in the Sakha (Yakutia) Region," reads his decree published by the regional government’s press service on Thursday.

The regional government has been tasked with taking measures to extinguish forest fires and prevent threats to populated areas.

As of August 1, work is in progress to extinguish 20 fires raging on 1,431 hectares of forests. The total area of forest fires in the hard-to-access zone is 1,172,312 hectares.