Gallery | The fires, which were swept in from Mongolia by high winds, have caused almost $9.4 million in damage.

Some 784,931 hectares of wildfires are raging on permafrost zones including the Arctic in Yakutia - officially Sakha Republic - and the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region, causing possibly irreparable damage to the tundra. Other infernos are sweeping through boreal forests which are known as the lungs of the Northern Hemisphere.

This time weather experts think the blackout was caused by smoke from wildfires mixing with heavy rain clouds.

The fires are now raging some 10 to 15 kilometers from the megaslump crater - a large hole in the frozen Arctic soil which highlights the dramatic speed of thawing permafrost.

Wildfires ablaze early in year due to lack of snow, posing threat to railway in Russian Far East.