After a month of warm, dry weather and wildfires, the huge crater nicknamed ‘Mouth of Hell’ is now under direct threat.
Premier Dmitry Medvedev warned it will take two to three weeks to extinguish the fires raging across Siberia.
With Russia on Covid-19 lockdown, 77 houses were burned down in Novosibirsk and Kemerovo regions.
Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk suffering smoke pollution and infernos rage in forests after hot, dry weather.
Average temperatures in the north of the Kara and Barents seas were 4C to 5C higher than previous years.
Winter comes to summer including freak hailstorms, mega-flooding but also wild fires.
'Second Spring' arrives with rhododendron blossoming for rare encore in October.
Summer 2020 follows unusually hot and dry spring in swinging between the extremes.
Greenpeace claim authorities underestimate the scale of destruction, amid warnings of lack of resources to fight fires.