Work under way to extinguish fire earlier contained in Chornobyl exclusion zone – Ukraine's emergencies service

11:12, 30.04.2015 1 min read

Firefighters continue to combat a blaze burning in the Chornobyl exclusion zone, Ukraine's State Emergency Situations Service said in a press release on Thursday morning.

"The fire was no longer spreading any farther as of 6:30 a.m. on April 30. Efforts continue to extinguish minor fires burning on an area of approximately 70 hectares of the forest floor within the controlled perimeter," it said.

A mobile center is coordinating all measures to combat the wildfire in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the service said.

A fire burning on 320 hectares of forest on the premises of the Chornobylska Puscha specialized enterprise, located in Kyiv region, was reported on April 28. Fortunately, the blaze was stopped from spreading toward the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Acting head of the State Emergency Situations Service Zorian Shkiriak announced that the fire had been contained at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday and firefighters were fully controlling the situation. He tentatively blamed arson or careless handling of fire for the accident.