As the Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs noted, every year the number of wildfires increases significantly. At the same time, measures to prevent forest and steppe fires have already been started in the regions.

"Until the end of May, the Fire Inspection of the Emergency Committee will complete inspections of national parks, nature reserves, subordinated to the Ministry of Agriculture and the akimats. Particular attention will be paid to inspections of children's health camps," K. Kassymov said.

For daily patrols in the forests, steppes and recreation areas, mobile groups have been created from the workers of the state fire control, forestry agencies and the local police service.

To work out the issues of cooperation in the border areas, it is planned to conduct tactical exercises with the units of the Ministry of Emergencies of Russia in five adjacent regions.

The Minister of Internal Affairs also identified a number of issues that require further elaboration. Among them are poor provision of regions with fire trucks, worn-out equipment, lack of voluntary firefighting units and posts in populated areas with no units of the state fire service.

K. Kasymov also reported on the liquidation of the consequences of yesterday's fire in the reserve "Semey Ormany." According to the Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a fire in a pine forest in the suburbs of Semey arose on May 21 at 14.30. 8 equipment units and 79 people from the natural reserve took part in extinguishing the fire. 244 people and 55 units of equipment were involved additionally. The helicopter MI-8 arrived from the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. At 21:00 the spread of the fire was stopped.

"The fire covered 100 hectares of forest, now the fire is extinguished, there is no danger of spreading fire, the investigation team is working to find out the causes of the fire," K. Kassymov said.

At the same time, according to K. Kassymov, the main cause of the fire is the human factor, non-observance of the established rules and measures.

The akims reported on the regions: East Kazakhstan — D. Akhmetov, Aktobe — B. Saparbayev, Zhambyl — A. Myrzakhmetov, North Kazakhstan — K. Aksakalov, deputy akim of Pavlodar region, U. Zhazylbek.

The readiness of the state forest owners for the fire-dangerous season of the current year was reported by the First Vice Minister of Agriculture, A. Yevniev.

The total area of the state forest fund (SFF) of the country is 29.8 million hectares. The main reason for the spread of fire is the weak material and technical base of forest institutions, as well as the absence of fire watch towers.

For the 2018 fire season, the Ministry of Agriculture conducted a set of preparatory measures. The Plan for Prevention and Elimination of Forest and Steppe Fires in the Territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan has been approved, and cooperation plans for combating forest fires of the structural divisions of forestry of the regional akimats, environment protection institutions of the MA RK and subordinate organizations of the Committee for Emergency Situations of the MIA RK have been prepared.

According to A. Yevniev, 244 fire fighting vehicles were repaired and put into combat readiness, and 460 wheeled tractors are ready for operation.

Jointly with Garysh Sapary JSC, the space monitoring of the state of the forest fund and forest fires has been worked out.

"In order to timely detect and eliminate forest fires, the forces of Kazavialesohrana State Enterprise will carry out air patrols in eight regions of the republic on an area of 8.869 million hectares or 30% of the state forest fund of the republic this year," A. Yevniev concluded.

Following the consideration of the reports of the Ministries of Internal Affairs and Agriculture, Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev noted that this year, according to Kazhydromet's forecasts, in some regions of the republic, the temperature is expected to be higher than the norm in summer. These circumstances require increased attention to the issues fire safety in the forest and steppe areas of the country.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Investment and Development together with the akimats of the regions, Astana and Almaty cities are instructed to take measures to increase the level of firefighting equipment of nature protection and forestry institutions.

Akimats and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are also instructed to pay special attention to the fire safety of children's health camps, sanatoriums and recreation areas.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, in conjunction with related state and local executive bodies, should ensure the high-quality implementation of the interagency Action Plan for the prevention and elimination of forest-steppe fires.

Coordination on this issue is entrusted to the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture, U. Shukeyev.