What is the cause of forest fires that broke out so fiercely in Russia?

Forests in Russia are on fire again. The Emergencies Department’s messages are increasingly reminiscent of reports from the front lines.

The city of Ekaterinburg in Central Russia, covered with smoke, the city suffocated with the smell of burning. This is due to the fire effect from the Forest fires in the Berezovsky district, according to the regional office of the Ministry of Emergencies.

The report said: The fire with an area of ​​​​62ha has been localized and does not pose a threat to residential areas and economic establishments.

In the Primorsky region of the Far East, in Dalnegorsk, the situation was even worse: Firefighters had to redirect the fire to avoid residential buildings. The length of the fire route is up to several kilometers.

In the Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia, 7 people died from the fire, 19 others were injured. The fire raged in more than 16 residential areas. Fires caused by electrical short-circuits caused by power lines cut due to storms, gusts of wind up to 40m/s. Short-circuits caused 273 fires in 18 cities.

In the Omsk region, Siberia, a double emergency occurred. The fire was on a large scale and the mayor of the Nazyvaevsk city of Omsk, Viktor Lupinos, was jailed for abuse of power, specifically for his negligent work ethic. He did not organize the implementation of regulations on fire prevention in a timely manner. As a result, at least 100 houses burned down.

The Irkutsk region is also struggling. As of May 7, a state of emergency was declared there due to adverse weather conditions and the spread of natural fires. On May 10, 16 fires were extinguished in the area. Participating in extinguishing the fire were 140 firefighters, 272 members of the forest fire brigade, and 136 ground equipment. Even more than 60 people had to be mobilized to put out the fire. Seven aircraft were used for aerial surveillance. The cause of the fires is believed to be weather.

The fire burned so fiercely that Russian President Vladimir Putin must intervene. Mr. Putin had to hold a meeting on forest fire fighting.

The Russian people have not forgotten the fires of last year, when flames engulfed the taiga forests in Siberia and the Far East. Then, during the summer, more than 17 million hectares of forest burned. For the first time in history (at least since the beginning of satellite monitoring), smoke from forest fires in Russia has reached as far as the North Pole.

Last year, when discussing the causes of forest fires, in addition to weather factors and poor management, the cause of “destruction” was also mentioned. One veteran, Alexander Mikhailov, thinks this is no exception because forest fires are an easy way to cause a lot of damage to a country. It was Russia who encountered such “culprits” during the first and second Chechen campaigns.

The worst year in terms of the number of forest fires in Russia was 2002: almost 43,500 forest fires were recorded. The burned forest area at that time exceeded 1.3 million hectares. The fire engulfed all federal counties. Huge damage – almost 1.5 billion rubles!

Ecologist Valery Brinikh thinks the only way to reduce the number of fires is to completely shut down forests. No one is allowed to enter the forest and there are no exceptions. In addition, it is strictly forbidden to burn garbage at landfills. This can also turn into a wildfire. However, this will only help reduce the number of fires. The forest will continue to burn, and people will have to get used to it.

Valery Brinikh explains: “We are facing the effects of climate change right now. Especially with the warming of the climate. Weather Unusual heat appeared and in addition strong winds. This causes galloping fires, which can only be extinguished by the method of interception, “using fire to put out fire”. This is a very difficult measure and kills a lot of plants.