100,000 Acres Of Siberian Forest Burning Or Already Burned, Thanks To Mild Winter - AFP

[hatrack]

Russian fire services were on Wednesday battling blazes across Siberia blamed on an exceptionally mild winter and illegal logging.
The emergency situations ministry said on its website that 36,000 hectares (89,000 acres) were burning in the Amur, Buryatiya, Khabarovsk, Primorsky and Jewish Autonomous provinces.

Another 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) of forest had been consumed by fire in the previous 24 hours, the ministry said.

"To extinguish the fire, 6,551 people and 1,779 firefighting vehicles, including eight aircraft, have been deployed," the ministry said.

The Interfax news agency reported the air was thick with smoke in the oil city of Tyumen. However the fires are not threatening residential areas or hazardous facilities such as oil and gas storage sites, the ministry said.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/080423120737.1k6fhvsg.html

[phantom power]

1. So much for my #$!@! carbon-sink pipe dream.