MOSCOW, Aug 16 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry reported Monday that the wildfire-affected areas were reduced by some 8,000 hectares over the past 24 hours.

The number of fires decreased fourfold, the ministry was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

Two NASA satellites registered a total of 371 hotspots in Russia on Sunday, according to the ScanEx website that received information from the satellites.

Foreign countries have sent 515 firefighters and 96 pieces of equipment so far to tackle the disaster in Russia.

Russian Railways dispatched on Monday special trains, each capable of carrying 240 tons of water, to fight wildfires in the Moscow Region.

Weather reports said the heat would turn into heavy storms with a sudden fall of temperature up to 15-20 degrees Celsius by the end of the week.