http://en.ria.ru/russia/20120729/174841143.html
Siberian Wildfires Show No Mercy
© RIA Novosti
15:09 29/07/2012
MOSCOW, July 29 (RIA Novosti)
Forest fires continue to rage in Siberia on a total area of over 23,000 hectares, with the worst of the blazes concentrated in the Tomsk Region, the Russian Emergencies Ministry reported on Sunday.
“In total, there are 143 wildfires in the Siberian Federal District on a total area of about 23,300 hectares, of which 33 fires have been localized on an area of 6,200 hectares. A total of 26 large wildfires continue to rage on an area of 17,000 hectares,” the ministry said.
Most of the fires are raging in the Tomsk Region on an area of 9,900 hectares.
“Over the past twenty-four hours, the effective measures by the Emergency Ministry’s firefighting teams, aviation and anti-fire technologies have helped prevent the spread of the wildfires raging at a distance of 5 km from populated areas and economic facilities in the Siberian Federal District,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Siberian Forestry Department reported on Friday that as of July 27 there were 131 forest fires on a total area of 14,948 hectares in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Tomsk Region, the Republics of Tyva and Khakassia and the Irkutsk Region.
The Emergency Ministry has announced the start of the massive use of aviation from Saturday to fight wildfires in Siberia. The ministry has committed four BE-200 amphibious planes, three Ilyushin Il-76 transport planes, three Mi-8 helicopters with water discharging devices and one Mi-26 to fight forest fires in the Tomsk Region.
In total, these aircraft have dumped over 1,200 tons of water on forest areas hit by fires.
The regional authorities have dispatched four Mi-8 and two Robinson helicopters and An-2 planes to fight the wildfires.
In total, over 6,200-strong personnel, including over 1,100 firefighters from the Emergency Ministry and 411 volunteers, are engaged in the fire-fighting effort in Siberia.
http://www.rt.com/news/siberia-wildfires-smoke-airport-322/
Siberia ablaze: Raging forest fires engulf five Russian regions
Published: 29 July, 2012, 12:41
Edited: 29 July, 2012, 17:45
Siberian cities are cloaked in smoke from raging wildfires whipped up by winds. The blazes are raging in five regions, covering an area over 22,200 acres (90 square kilometers).
The situation is hampered by extreme temperatures. And though all flights in the regional city of Omsk have been grounded by the blaze, firefighters say it poses no threat to populated areas or industry.
Thick smoke is holding back containment work and is preventing the emergency planes and helicopters from reaching the worst-hit areas.
Bogashevo airport, Tomsk (RIA Novosti / Yakov Andreev)
Some 3,000 people, 412 units of fire-fighting equipment and 24 aircraft have been mobilized to fight the blazes.
Around 34 wildfires have been identified. Weather forecasters say hot and dry weather with temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celsius will remain until at least August 5.
Earlier authorities were forced to close two airports in the cities of Tomsk and Omsk, due to heavy smoke and poor visibility.
A view of the Kommunalny Bridge at Tomsk's city limit (RIA Novosti / Yakov Andreev)
Ecologists fear this year’s blaze might become real catastrophe
And while the local authorities claim they have the situation under their control, Greenpeace ecologists are convinced that though summer fires have become commonplace in Russia’s Siberia and Far East, this year it is a real catastrophe.
‘If the situation is going to develop like it is doing right now, this year will see a record large area affected by fires,”Greenpeace activist in Russia Maksim Yaroshenko told Radio Svoboda (Russian Branch of Radio Free Europe).
His colleague Grigory Kuksin also is convinced that people are unable to deal with the blaze and only rain could possibly extinguish the fire, even though all of the emergency workers are called in.
A view of Lagerny Garden and the Tom River, Tomsk (RIA Novosti / Yakov Andreev)
The ecologists believe the reasons for the catastrophe lie in the country’s inability to fight wildfires due to calamitous changes in legislation. Forest management has become gravely dilapidated since 2000, when the Federal Forestry Service was liquidated.
A new and highly ineffective Forestry Code introduced in 2006 appeared to be the last straw. It abolished centralized state forest control, distributing its functions among regional authorities. The latter, as a rule, are unable – or unwilling – to allocate enough finance to forestry protection and monitoring.
From 2006 to 2010, the number of forestry employees shrank by half. Now it is unclear who bears responsibility for prevention and battling wildfires.
A map of Russian regions affected by raging wildfires
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