Russia is still fighting to extinguish nearly 600 wildfires in an emergency that has now claimed 50 lives.

俄罗斯民众正在与近600处森林大火进行抗争，此次火灾已造成50人死亡。

Foreign reinforcements are arriving, including two Canadair water-bombing planes from Italy. Ukraine and Belarus are also sending firefighters.

The defence ministry¹ has ordered the transfer of all artillery²（火炮，大炮） and munitions³（军需品，必需品） from a military base near the capital.

The Moscow smog eased on Thursday, though an acrid⁴ smell persisted from peat fires burning outside the city.

Seven regions are under a state of emergency. Russian officials say there are now 589 wildfires raging across 196,000 ha (484,326 acres). More than 160,000 firefighters have been deployed⁵.

Col Alexei Kuznetsov, a defence ministry spokesman, told the Associated Press that a garrison⁶（要塞，守卫） near Naro-Fominsk, 45 miles (70km) from Moscow, would be evacuated⁷ due to the danger posed by fires.

It was not in immediate⁸ danger, he added.

Radioactive worry

On Wednesday President Dmitry Medvedev sacked several top military officials for failing to stop wildfires from destroying a naval⁹ base outside Moscow.

He made the announcement after halting his summer holiday to return to Moscow for emergency talks on the wildfires.

Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu has meanwhile warned that fires in the Bryansk region - an area affected¹⁰ by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster - could produce radioactive particles.

"In the event of（发生） a fire there, radionuclides（放射性核素） could rise together with combustion¹¹（燃烧，氧化） particles, resulting in a new pollution zone," he was cited as saying on state television.

One fire earlier threatened a shelter housing some 1,000 animals in the Moscow area.

The Bim charity shelter at Khoteichi, 100km south-east of Moscow, said a forest fire had come dangerously close to the animals' cages.

It is home to hundreds of dogs and cats, as well as circus animals, RIA Novosti news agency reports.

No details were available on the number of animals killed in the wildfires, which have spread amid a record heatwave, with temperatures soaring to nearly 40C (104F).

Forecasters expect Moscow's high temperatures to persist for several more days.

Russia has announced it is banning the export of grain（粮食，谷物） from 15 August to 31 December after drought and fires devastated¹² about a fifth of its grain crop.