Southern Siberia hit by punishing flames causing death and destruction.

A family was rescued by helicopter after chopping birch trees and using them to spell 'SOS' when they were ringed by blazing wildfires.

All residents 'safely evacuated' as the tower was engulfed in flames.

Pro-Kremlin eco-groups echo Greenpeace concerns by highlighting burning of forests which do not appear in government reports.

Wildfires rage around Lake Baikal with 5,000-plus emergency workers deployed.

Forest infernos will be extinguished by the weekend, pledges government, as wildfires become political issue in Moscow.

Fires have wreaked havoc this summer with Yakutia and the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous the latest to be hard hit.

With forest fires still burning across Siberia, hot summer temperatures are moving across the continent.

The tragedy was at an industrial waste plant near the oil rich Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk.

Distressing images from infernos that left 645 people without homes, and dozens injured.