Forest fires that raged near the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine have been put out, emergency officials said Tuesday, though they acknowledged that grassy areas were still smoldering in the radiation-contaminated area.

Hundreds of firefighters backed by planes have been battling the flames around Chernobyl for the past 10 days. They contained the initial blazes, but new ones burned closer to the decommissioned plant.

Emergency services chief Mykola Chechetkin reported to President Volodymyr Zelensky that rain helped firefighters extinguish the flames, but added that it would take a few more days to put out the hot spots.

Chechetkin said crews have prevented the flames from engulfing the radioactive waste sites in Chernobyl.

Officials said they registered short-term rises in Caesium-137 particles in the Kiev area about 60 miles south of the plant, but that radiation levels were within normal limits overall, Reuters reported.

They did not say why the particle levels rose.

Last week, officials said they tracked down a 27-year-old man suspected of igniting dry grass in the area. The man said he burned grass “for fun” and then failed to extinguish the flames when the wind caused them to spread.

Zelensky’s office said police also have detained suspected arsonists near two areas where the fire broke out.

The 1,000-square-mile Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was established after the April 1986 disaster that sent a cloud of radioactive fallout over much of Europe.

The area is largely unpopulated, though about 200 people have remained despite orders to leave.

With Post wires