Burns on all fronts

In the Russian regions, the number of forest fires is growing. In ten regions of Yakutia, the emergency regime has already been introduced, and in Siberia the area of ​​fire is 3.9 thousand hectares. Officials assure that the spread of fires under control and the situation that happened last summer will not happen again, but environmentalists do not exclude that the summer of 2011 will end as deplorable as last year.

Over 120 foci of natural fires with a total area of ​​99.56 thousand hectares operates on the lands of the Russian forest fund. This was officially announced on May 26 at the Ministry of Emergencies. The department noted that since the beginning of the year, 9170 foci of natural fires were registered in the country, against 11,490 centers last year. The forest burns on an area of ​​335 thousand hectares, which is more than the same period last year by 1.25 times. In Bryansk, a set of volunteers to combat forest fires has already begun . Those who wish to take part in the extinguishing of fires are included in a special list. If necessary, the authorities will turn to volunteers for help.

35 large forest fires were registered in the country in Yakutia, Buryatia and Tuva, in the Amur and Irkutsk regions, as well as in the Trans -Baikal and Krasnoyarsk region. Every day, more than 40 new foci of fire arises around the country.

On the territory of Yakutia, 34 natural fires on an area of ​​91 thousand hectares operate today. Local media notes that compared to the same period last year, the fire area increased by 2 times. The city of Yakutsk has already covered several times with thick smoke, and citizens from June 1 were forbidden to go out to hunt in the taiga. The emergency mode in the region was suggested by the director of the Forestry Department for the Far Eastern Federal District Vladimir Kovalenko.

“The difficult situation in Yakutia is due to poor manageability of people involved in extinguishing fire, there is no one to control the mass of people. Two thousand people account for only 3-5 foresters, ”said Kovalenko.

The Vladimir region was also poorly prepared for possible fires, the local Komsomolskaya Pravda writes. The authorities did not fulfill a number of planned measures, in particular, very few new fire ponds are dug up, and burned forests are still not cleaned. The promised technique, with the exception of 25 used Ars (auto -barriers), did not enter the Vladimir region.

Meanwhile, the first deputy chairman of the government, Viktor Zubkov, assured that any “egregious cases” of the misuse of funds allocated this year to combat forest fires have not yet been recorded in Russia. According to him, all the money is sent to the regions and the situation is “corrected”.

This year, about 4 times more funds were allocated for fires from fires than a year earlier - almost 10 billion rubles against 2.2 billion rubles last year.

According to the “Forest Power Center” in Krasnoyarsk, there are three foci of fires on the territory of the region, with a total area of ​​more than three thousand hectares. This is despite the fact that firefighters managed to localize fire on an area of ​​2900 hectares. 358 people and 43 units of special transport take part in the extinguishing.

Last summer and partially in the fall, in the main part of the territory of Russia, mainly in its central part, the strongest natural fires caused by abnormal heat were blazing. As a result, 199 settlements were injured, 3.2 thousand houses burned, 62 people were killed.

Greenpeace specialist Mikhail Krenin is currently going to the Vladimir region.

The Greenpeace employee claims that the authorities, as last year, are silent for the facts of fires.

“Yesterday, the Ministry of Emergencies did not talk about the facts of fire in the central lane. And we saw large foci with our own eyes, ”says Craindlin. According to him, nothing fundamentally improved over the year.

“In May last year, it all started in the same way. Then the fires were twice less. And nothing by the authorities in the year, in general, has not been done. We are driving a forest that burned out last year, it is still not removed, ”the expert says. He is sure that there are great chances of repetition of the same situation as last year.

“This summer promises to be the same dry. Then forests will burn again, at home. There will be victims, ”Kranglin notes.