The fires, covering an area of 3,300 hectares (8,100 acres) have been raging in the Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan just south of Russia’s Altai region which has also been hit by serious forest fires.

“Six people — three forestry workers and three locals — have been killed as a result of forest fires in the Pavlodar region,” the ministry said in a statement quoted by the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency.

The statement came after Russian officials said fires destroyed more than 400 houses in the Siberian region of Altai with one village, Nikolayevka, entirely destroyed by the flames.