Kremlin furious as forest fires rage in Siberia

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian emergency services on Saturday stepped up their fight against forest fires in Siberia that left a major city covered in toxic smog and prompted a furious reaction from President Dmitry Medvedev.

Over 173ha of fires were burning in the forest zone around the central Siberian city of Bratsk, the emergencies ministry said, in one of the worst single outbreaks of wildfires in Russia this year.

It said that over 1,000 rescue workers were already engaged in fighting the fires along with water-bombing helicopters and this would be increased to almost 1,500 people.

The Kommersant daily said that the fires had left Bratsk - a major regional centre with a population of 250,000 - swathed in smog with visibility of just 30m and up to 20 times more carbon particles in the air than normal.