BBC News:  Russia is still fighting to extinguish nearly 600 wildfires in an emergency that has now claimed 50 lives. 

Foreign reinforcements are arriving, including two Canadair water-bombing planes from Italy.  Ukraine and Belarus are also sending firefighters.  The defense ministry has ordered the transfer of all artillery and munitions from a military base near the capital.  Seven regions were under a state of emergency.  Russian officials say there are now 589 wildfires raging across 196,000 ha (484,326 acres).  More than 160,000 firefighters have been deployed.  Col. Alexei Kuznetsov, a defense ministry spokesman, told the Associated Press that a garrison near Naro-Fominsk, 45 miles (70 km) from Moscow, would be evacuated due to the danger posed by fires. 

On Wednesday President Dmitry Medvedev sacked several top military officials for failing to stop wildfires from destroying a naval base outside Moscow.  He made the announcement after halting his summer holiday to return to Moscow for emergency talks on the wildfires.  Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu has meanwhile warned that fires in the Bryansk region - an area affected by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster - could produce radioactive particles.  No details are available on the number of animals killed in the wildfires, which have spread amid a record heatwave, with temperatures soaring to nearly 40C (104F). 

Forecasters expect Moscow's high temperatures to persist for several more days.  Russia has announced it is banning the export of grain from August 15 to December 31 after drought and fires devastated about a fifth of its grain crop.  More than 3,500 people have lost their homes in 14 regions of Russia in the past few days.  

Commentary:  Acts 2:19 says, "I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath; blood, fire and vapor of smoke.  These catastrophic events are not letting up and, according to God's Holy Word, things will rapidly become worse, as the return of the Lord approaches.  (Also see the article below regarding Arizona's wildfires.)