Emergency group stops spread of fire in Chornobyl zone

The rescue team continues to fight fires in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and in Zhytomyr region; there is already less fire.

Director of the Emergency Response Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine Volodymyr Demchuk said this at an online briefing on April 23, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Thanks to the measures taken, the number of fires and their area in the Chornobyl zone and Zhytomyr region continues to decrease. Thus, in the exclusion zone, there is no spread of fire in all three points of fire outbreak. The Emergency Response Group is working along the perimeter and in the middle of the fire areas where possible," he said.

Demchuk noted that the rescues had put out two fires in Zhytomyr region. Other localized fires do not pose a threat; open fire is not observed there.

As Ukrinform reported, the extinction of fires in the Chornobyl zone has been ongoing since April 4. The losses are tentatively estimated at tens of millions of hryvnias. Representatives of the State Emergency Service have repeatedly emphasized that there is no threat to critical facilities of the exclusion zone.

In Zhytomyr region, fires have been extinguished since April 16. They covered an area of more than 4,000 hectares. A pre-trial investigation has been launched in criminal proceedings over the destruction of forests in the Ovruch district by fire (Part 1 of Article 245 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

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