The driest summer in 150 years has turned Yakutia into a tinderbox and seen wildfires tear through the region.

Residents of the Russian Arctic city of Norilsk spent time in and around Lake Dolgoye on Tuesday, as temperatures in the region soared. The lake is used for water discharge from Norilsk‘s Central Heating and Power Plant No. 1, but was used for swimming on July 27 as the temperature in the city reached 30 degrees Celsius (86 F).

Wildfires on permafrost are ravaging Yakutia - or the Sakha Republic - the largest and coldest entity of the Russian Federation. The scale is mesmerizing. There are some 300 separate fires, now covering 12,140 square kilometers - but only around half of these are being tackled, because they pose a threat to people. The rest are burning unchecked.

Even school children are in firefighting brigades in some areas of Yakutia.

Omsk region reported ‘record high’ number of wildfires and cases of dry grass burning, that turn into wildfires this spring, with one day last week counting nearly a thousand new events a day. Omsk region emergency services said the number of wildfires is seven to ten times above the norm.

Pillars of smoke were filmed over the areas hit by last summer’s wildfires despite the current long spell of extremely cold weather.