Separate fires at residential buildings and houses claimed at least 15 lives across Russia in the last 24 hours, local news agencies report.
Authorities in the Urals town of Chusovoi said on February 27 that six people, including three children, died in a fire that hit an apartment building overnight. According to preliminary investigations, an electric oven left switched on during the night might have been the cause of the incident.
In the southwestern region of Krasnodar, a man and two children also died in a fire overnight. Emergency officials said that it took two hours to extinguish the fire in the village of Pashkovsky. Investigators are working to find out the cause of the blaze.
In the Siberian city of Tomsk, a large fire hit a local depot for paper waste early in the morning. No casualties were reported, but it took several hours to extinguish the blaze, local authorities said.
Deadly fires in Russia and elsewhere across the former Soviet Union often occur as a result of using electric or gas heaters or ovens in freezing weather, as heating systems in many remote places are outdated and need replacement or repair.
On February 26, a fire hit an apartment building in the southwestern city of Volgograd, killing three people.
Another fire in the Siberian city of Yakutsk claimed three other lives.
A large fire in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg damaged a depot and several vehicles. No casualties were reported.
Two separate fires over the weekend killed three children in the Sverdlovsk region and four people in the Chelyabinsk region in the Urals.