ISTANBUL 

Wildfires that erupted on Sunday in southern Russia’s Kurgan region and killed three people, have spread to local settlements on Monday, the head of the country’s Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) said.

“Fires from forests and dry grass have moved to several settlements in the Urals. A difficult situation has developed. We are flying to the Kurgan region in order to assess the situation on the spot, to concentrate the necessary forces, taking into account all the risks and factors, in order to quickly cope with the difficult situation,” Alexander Kurenkov said in a statement released by EMERCOM on Telegram.

A later statement said Kurenkov and Kurgan Governor Vadim Shumkov flew to the areas most affected by the wildfires, and that most of the fires have already been contained.

“Currently, 6 out of 9 landscape fires have been localized, and one has been completely eliminated. Also, 3 forest fires out of 4 operating in the region were localized. Eight more fires were extinguished during the day,” it added.

According to the statement, 1,290 people worked to extinguish the fires using 332 pieces of equipment, including aviation from EMERCOM, while planes and a helicopter from the ministry dropped 165 tons of water onto the fires.

Kurenkov and Shumkov later said during a press briefing that additional forces from two rescue centers have arrived in the region, while airmobile groups from the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan and the Perm region, as well as a detachment from the Russian Republic of Udmurtia, were on their way.

Separately, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow that Kurenkov and Shumkov reported the situation to President Vladimir Putin by phone, and informed him of “what was happening, what potential threats and what measures were being taken to protect people and their property.”

A state of emergency was declared in Kurgan, as well as the Omsk region, where two people also were killed due to wildfires, the region’s Governor Alexander Burkov told the Rossiya-24 television channel on Sunday.​​​​​​​