Armenian firefighters have been battling a wildfire in the Khosrov forest reserve for days and succeeded in localizing the fire with help from a Russian air tanker, officials say. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.
The fire broke out on August 12 and has burnt hundreds of hectares of vegetation since then, officials said.
One helicopter of the Ministry of Defense for days battled the blaze alone, but it received help when the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry dispatched a firefighting plane filled with tons of water on August 15.
The Ilyushin-76 aircraft, one of the biggest air tankers in the world, dumped 250 tons of water in six passes over the burning forest, the Russian ministry told TASS.
Preliminary assessments found the fire, which spread quickly, has done considerable damage to the vegetation and wildlife in the reserve, Armenian Nature Protection Minister Artsvik Minasyan said.
