Russia gains ground on wildfires

MOSCOW, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Emergency responders in Russia managed to stave off a national disaster from raging forest fires, the emergency minister declared.

Wildfires in Russia have claimed more than 50 lives and left more than 3,500 people homeless during blazes that have consumed parts of the country for nearly three weeks.

Wildfires coupled with drought brought on by a record-setting heat wave during the first weeks of August led Moscow to impose a ban on grain exports because of crop losses.

Sergei Shoigu, the emergency situations minister, said the federal government was able to cope successfully with the fires, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.

"I can say absolutely clearly that, experiencing such climatic conditions for such a period for the first time, the whole of the Russian system of preventing emergencies managed to cope with the forest fires," he was quoted as saying.

He complained, however, that the response from agencies outside the federal government was less than adequate.

Satellites monitoring the blaze found the number of hot spots in Russia rose from 121 to 131 during the weekend. At their peak, the number of hot spots was closer to 500.