The wildfires in Russia are devastating and Russian troops are busy digging canals to protect nuclear sites.

"I woke up this morning, looked out of the window and saw a monstrous situation," said President Dmitry Medvedev. "We all want this heat wave to pass, but this is not in our hands, it is decided above."

But if there's one thing Russians are good at, it's making lemonade. While smoke rolls in over the cities, HTC started twitter contest for the best smoke photo, and a chance to win the new HTC Wildfire smartphone. You play by snapping a good photo and then hashtagging it #HTC_Wildfire and #smog. There hasn't been a press release yet, but Russians are already sending in lots of pictures to twitter - for us not eligible to compete it provides a realtime update of the current smog situation.

Maybe HTC should give these guys, who were suddenly surrounded by fire after driving into a village to help a phone as well, that footage can't be beat. (scary!)