We're literally on fire already

“Interlocutor” visited the villages of the Nizhny Novgorod region that were most affected by fires.

Hot spot

It is not easy to get to one of the main hot spots in the country - the Vyksa district of the Nizhny Novgorod region, where Prime Minister Vladimir Putin came on fire last week. Transport communications literally depend on the weather - the wind carries a thick veil of smoke, sparks and burning garbage even to neighboring areas, and in the Vyksa district itself people live as if on an active volcano - every minute expecting the worst. Due to the danger, bus routes are canceled, and not every taxi driver will go to the area engulfed in fire.

There are already soothing tirades from the authorities on TV, “Everything is under control,” but this will not deceive the residents of Vyksa - no matter how much officials persuade, people believe their senses more than the authorities.

“Don’t come now, you might die,” the district administration told me bluntly. At first I thought it was a simple excuse to kick the journalist. But from the first steps in Vyksa, I realized that if this was an exaggeration, it was not a very big one. The smoke and fumes in the air are such that it is impossible to take a deep breath. Many Vyksa residents are wearing special filter masks, which were given to local residents at the metallurgical plant for working in hazardous workshops.

“Kulebaki, Snoved, Vilya defended. They couldn’t defend Giblovka, Borkovka, Tamboles,” even among themselves the locals have already switched to military language, and even children and old people will tell you in general terms how to resist fires. Everyone relies first of all on themselves.

“The men are digging up the ground around the village, using chainsaws to cut down trees that come close to the villages, keeping shovels, sand, water, and buckets on the outskirts so that if something happens, they are fully armed. Women and children are on duty on the streets - they monitor the direction of the wind, look where the smoke is coming from and firebrands are flying in, my fellow travelers to Vyksa knowledgeably tell me. But they immediately cut themselves off: “But all this only works in the event of a ground fire.” Nothing can save you from a horse that is spread by the wind.

Fire victims

Near the main building of Vyksa - the Metallurgists' Palace of Culture - there are buses with unusual passengers. Most are in robes, sweatpants and T-shirts, with flip-flops on their bare feet. No one has any questions about who these people are and where they come from - these are survivors of the fire who walked away from the fire, wearing whatever clothes they had on. The village of Verkhnyaya Vereya burned down in 20 minutes.

“I saw fires, but it was something unimaginable,” Yuri Borodyuk still cannot come to his senses. - Like a tornado, a hurricane. The whole sky turned black, worse than at night. Some kind of terrible roar, you can’t breathe, you can’t see anyone at arm’s length. Who, what – can’t make out anything...

Residents of Verkhnyaya Vereya suffered the most, and it was with them that Vladimir Putin met the day before.

“I look at him and say: “They’ve deceived us, they’ve deceived us,” says Valentina Yusherova. “And he answers me: “Don’t worry, woman, we will come and check.”

Putin's arrival added to the heat. The officials began to fuss. We immediately organized a meeting at the Metallurgists' Palace. Before it starts, people meet on the porch of the palace who saw each other for the first time after the fire.

-Are all of yours alive?

- Yes, thank God...

– But the Chernenkovs and Kapitanovs couldn’t get out...

This “roll call” gives people reason to doubt the official figures. Few people here believe in the 18 deaths in Russia - they say that 30-40 people in Vereya alone were not found. There are no complete lists of the living and the dead yet, so where do the statistics come from? Officials are clearly underestimating the number of losses.

Someone returned to the house for documents, for clothes, someone hesitated and panicked. The elderly and disabled had practically no chance of survival.

“When these huge balls of fire began to fly into the village with a terrible noise,” its resident Kapitanov tells me, “people ran wherever they could. They ran, gasped, fell. Whoever was in the car grabbed the first ones they came across and put them in, just to escape from this hell. Eight or nine people were crowded into the cabin, side by side, on top of each other, just to get out. 7 people went with me. But my mother and brother could not get out - they burned out. And in such utter darkness there was no way for me to reach them...
There are also happy stories. Alexey Pyatak, whom everyone thought died in the fire, turned out to be alive. I dived into a local swamp puddle and remained neck-deep in water until rescuers arrived. When it got really scary, he dived in headfirst. Two old men and two teenagers sat out in the water with him. Thanks to which they survived.

After Putin, as many as three regional ministers and one vice-governor came to meet with the Verkhnevereya residents. They promised help and new houses with all amenities by November 1 of this year. The locals listened, some recorded the promises on their mobile phones, just in case. Before the fire, they were also promised: “Everything will be fine, the situation is under control,” and Governor Valery Shantsev even refused help from the federal center: “We will cope on our own.”

“You speak beautifully, but at least give me your phone number, so who can I ask from later,” someone shouted from the audience.

After a minute of silence and the microphone being passed from hand to hand, the officials dictated the number of the reception secretary of the regional administration.

There was a village here

The fire victims were placed in one of the schools and on the territory of the pioneer camp. Those who had somewhere to go went to relatives. But they all strive to escape “home” whenever possible. Together with the Zhavoronov family, I also enter Verkhnyaya Vereya - or rather, where it was. There is a police checkpoint at the entrance. They are allowed in only with a passport with Verkhnevereysk registration.

The spectacle is not for the faint of heart. Almost 350 houses, a length of 3 kilometers - all this is now scorched earth. You can make a film about the apocalypse. Only iron did not turn into ashes. The preserved remains of beds and bathtubs stand ominously among the smoldering rubble. Maddened, burnt cows and goats... Policemen or rare local residents suddenly appear in front of you from the smoke. The earth has not yet cooled down and burns my feet. One of the locals is sitting next to his cow - he has nowhere to take it, and it’s a pity to give it to slaughter. While looking for a container for water to water the cattle, I came across a body burned to the bones. He showed the place to investigators who are now working at the scene of the tragedy.

The old name of the village of Verkhnyaya Vereya is Giblovka. They say that Ivan the Terrible’s troops died in the local swamps when he went to take Kazan. Now the entire vertical of power, from Putin to the chairman of the village council, promises Giblovka-Vereya unprecedented prosperity. Not everyone has figured out how to deal with this yet. They remember well how during the three days while the fire was approaching, the Vereians called all authorities, including Moscow, but only achieved the duty of two fire engines, the strength of which, of course, was not enough at the critical moment. There are rumors that the authorities are now trying to remove traces of these calls from computers by all means. They understand that now the earth is burning and underneath them too.

first hand

– We will pay compensation. 100 thousand rubles - for real estate from the federal budget and 100 thousand - compensation for real estate from the regional budget. Plus, 2 million rubles for the construction of the house and 1 million rubles for engineering and other infrastructure adjacent to the house. That is, only 3 million rubles for house construction. Several families lived in some houses. We will build a house or pay compensation to each family, regardless of whether they lived together or separately.

Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation

only numbers

At the time of signing the issue, 2,100 people were left homeless as a result of fires in Russia. 128 thousand hectares are burning. Most of the outbreaks are in the Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, and Voronezh regions. 30 people are considered dead, but this figure will most likely be updated upward.