A state of emergency has been declared in Amur Region. Over 1,500 ha of forest are on fire in Blagoveshchenskiy and Arkharinskiy districts. The smoke screen has reached China's northern provinces. Part of the Khinganskiy nature reserve is on fire. A dangerous situation has developed around the district centre. Fireman have been unable to cope with the large number of blazes for a whole week.
[In a separate report at 0022 gmt on 18 October, ITAR-TASS, in Russian, reported that 40 fires were burning over an area of 33,000 ha in the Russian Far East. The Far East centre of the Russian Emergencies Ministry said that 25 new fires had started in the last 24 hours. There are 350 people and 65 items of equipment being used in the operation to put out the fires.]

Source: NTV, Moscow
BBC Monitoring