Moscow Region Governor Boris Gromov gave out bravery awards to 80 firefighters on Monday for putting out peat bog and forest fires across the region this summer.

“Some 13,500 people helped with quenching fires across Moscow region. If not for your brave efforts in the last two months, it’s hard to tell how it could have all ended,” Gromov said.

Each firefighter received a medal of honor and 20,000 rubles ($650). Civilians were among those decorated, as well as firemen from Russia’s Emergencies, Defense and Interior Ministries.

Several firefighters were put forward for presidential awards, Gromov said.

The Moscow region government previously granted awards to 95 firemen from Bulgaria and Latvia.

A scorching heat wave gripped much of European Russia for around two months this summer. Hundreds of wildfires sparked by the record-breaking heat caused some 12 billion rubles ($394 million) in damage, according to the Emergencies Ministry.

KRASNOGORSK, August 30 (RIA Novosti)