Siberia wildfires: Russians battle to contain the blazes
The BBC's Steve Rosenberg travels to the forest to see how Russians are tackling the wildfiresThe great Siberian river, the Lena, flows past here. And, stretching into the distance, is lush green forest - the taiga. It's a picture postcard kind of place.
In Podymakhino I meet Gennady Esin. He runs a small farm and timber business, but by necessity he's a firefighter, too, now. Gennady and his team agree to take me into the taiga to show me the situation there. We set off on a military-style off-road truck, bumping along a dirt track. Soon we're deep in the forest, surrounded by silver birch, cedar and pine trees.
Gennady's team has limited resources. A forester called Sergei walks round with a simple pump, extinguishing flames whenever he spots them. But catching all danger points in time is almost impossible. Fire can appear unexpectedly. In the forest one smouldering bush I was looking at suddenly burst into flames.Another fire-fighting helicopter flies over.
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