Wildfires across Russia are ‘out of control‘, with an estimated 3,000 homes now lost and another 47,000 hectares burning (making a total area of 172,000 hectares on fire), and reports are emerging that 13 hangars full of aircraft and equipment were destroyed by fires spreading to a naval base last week.  Satellite images from NASA have identified over 600 individual fires (photos here).  Yulia Latynina blames the excessive damages on the fact that many Russian villages do not have fire stations, looks at the culpability of the 2007 Forest Code (as many other critics are also doing this week), and compares US and Russian statistics.  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, in a bid to ‘limit criticism of the response‘, including charges that firefighters came too late and that preventative measures did not work, is setting up a live online video feed to allow Russian citizens to monitor the reconstruction of homes destroyed in the fire, says The Guardian.  Air quality in Moscow has hit an eight-year low.