Huge rise in Siberian forest fires puts planet at risk, scientists warn

Fires in the Siberian forests – the largest in the world and vital to the planet’s health – have increased tenfold in the last 20 years and could again rage out of control this summer, Russian scientists warn.

They say they have neither the money nor the equipment to control or extinguish the huge forests fires often started illegally and deliberately in the Russian far east by rogue timber firms who plan to sell cheap lumber to China.