Can someone explain to me the geography of the area in Russia that is affected by fire?

Asked by kevbo (25672) August 10th, 2010 from iPhone

The numbers are too big for me to comprehend, and I don’t know what the landscape would be normally. For example:

The emergencies ministry said that over the last 24 hours, 247 new fires had appeared, more than the 239 had been put out, and 557 fires were still raging across the affected region.

and

… the authorities said they were making progress in fighting fires that still covered 174,035 hectares of land.

So there have been a thousand fires burning? Really?

What is the land mass involved analagous to? Texas? France? Is it dense forest? Bog? Something else?

Help me understand. Thanks.