State of emergency in Russia's Yakutia expanded over fires

Russian authorities have expanded a state of emergency in northeast Siberia to bring in outside resources to combat wildfires that have engulfed the vast region

MOSCOW -- Russian authorities expanded a state of emergency in northeast Siberia on Friday to bring in outside resources to combat wildfires that have engulfed the vast region. Russian Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev declared the state of emergency for Sakha-Yakutia. The move should help organize the transfer of firefighting resources from other regions to help fight the blazes in Yakutia, which is Russia’s largest territory and bigger than Argentina. The vast territory, also known as Sakha Republic, has faced a spell of particularly devastating wildfires this year following months of hot and dry weather featuring record-breaking temperatures. On Friday, officials reported 117 active forest fires burning across nearly 1.4 million hectares (3.4 million acres) in Yakutia, which encompasses 308.4 million hectares (762 million acres).