Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic A Russian
firefighter rappels into the Siberian forest from an Mi-8
helicopter. Russia's aerial firefighting organization, the
Avialesookhrana, is the largest of its kind in the world. Some
4,000 firefighters patrol 11 time zones in Soviet-era
helicopters and biplanes, dousing the country's 20,000 to 35,000
wildfires every year. See more photos of Russian fire seasons in
this National Geographic News photo gallery: "Wildfire Pictures:
Russia Burns, Moscow Chokes."