The Russian Emergencies Ministry has asked Kazakhstan for permission to allow Russian planes to extinguish fires on the Russian-Kazakh border, ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said.

Three fire lines with the total area of 2,000 hectares are currently raging in Kazakhstan, and are moving into Russia, Andrianova said.

Six districts in the Altai Territory and one district in the Novosibirsk region are under threat of fires, she said.

"Work to extinguish the fires will only start on Thursday," Andrianova said, adding that the fires are not currently being doused.

The village of Nikolayevka in the Altai Territory has completely burned down, the spokeswoman said earlier on Wednesday.

"All the homes in the village of Nikolayevka are on fire. According to preliminary information, 443 of them have already been completely destroyed," Andrianova said, adding that 1,166 people were evacuated from the village.

Six homes in the village of Bastan in the Altai Territory have already caught fire.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered investigations into the actions of officials, who did not take any measures to prevent the fires from spreading.

Forest and peat bog fires raged in European Russia in July-August. The fires killed over 50 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and 11 million hectares of crops.

MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti)