All public events cancelled, extra protection for children as they go to kindergarten and school.

Military fully engaged in minimising carnage, but water sprayed by planes to extinguish infernos is ‘as expensive as Champagne’.

Predators seek food in villages all around Siberia as climate expert warns of worse fires each year due to soaring rise in temperatures, 10C above average.

Almost 3 million hectares on fire, including Arctic, with fumes having hit area larger than European Union.

Most fires will not be extinguished, with major cities polluted by fumes.

The Usolyekhimprom facility, disused due to bankruptcy in 2017, is a ‘toxic catastrophe waiting to happen’.