Russia has been plagued by extensive forest fires and the Sacha-Yakutia region of northeastern Siberia is the worst-hit area.
According to the news agency AP, the total area that is burning has increased by 100,000 hectares in the last 24 hours.
The fire area now covers a total of 247,000 hectares - nineteen times larger than the fire in Västmanland in 2014.
- The situation with forest fires in our region is very difficult.
We are experiencing the driest summer in the last 150 years in Yakutia, and the month of June was the warmest ever recorded, says Aysen Nikolayev, Governor of Sakha-Yakutia.
Almost daily thunderstorms
According to Aysen Nikolayev, Sacha-Yakutia is hit almost daily by thunderstorms, which he believes is a contributing factor to the forest fires.
The smoke from the fires covered 51 cities in the region, including the capital Yakutsk, which has forced authorities to suspend all flights to and from the city.
Last year it was record hot in Russia, as much as 5.3 degrees above the average temperature during 1951-1980.