Voronezh, Russia (CNN) -- Russian authorities have imposed a state of emergency around about 500 towns and villages because of wildfires burning across the country, officials said Monday.
Most of the fires were started accidentally by people burning garbage, dropping cigarettes, or failing to extinguish campfires or barbecues properly, Emergency Situations Ministry representative Irina Andrianova said.
There are nearly 700 separate fires burning, covering about 115,000 hectares, she said. A hectare is about the size of a baseball diamond or an international rugby pitch.
Some 34 people have been confirmed dead, Andrianova said.
Firefighters moved in to protect 86,000 people from the fires, she said.
That includes about 5,000 people who actually fled their homes. The rest are from 265 villages and towns that were protected from the fires by firefighters, but did not have to evacuate, she said.
CNN
