The Siberian region of Yakutia is particularly affected. The settlement of Sangar with its oil deposits is also threatened there. Almost 7,000 people are working to bring the fires under control
Krasnoyarsk – The forest fire situation in Russia is becoming increasingly dramatic. In the largest country in the world in terms of area, the authorities reported more than 250 fires with a total area of more than three million hectares.
Extinguishing work ran with 180 fires with an area of around 1.3 million hectares, said the authority responsible for forest protection Avialesoochrana. The other fires in poorly accessible regions would not be extinguished because there was no danger to people, it said.
The Siberian region of Yakutia (Republic of Sakha) in north-eastern Russia was particularly hard hit. There, as in a total of eight regions, the state of emergency was in effect. In Yakutia, the fire is spreading in the direction of the Sangar settlement with its oil depots, the civil defense announced, according to the Interfax agency.
The state agency Tass reported from the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk that almost 400 villages there would be drowning in smoke. According to the Avialesoochrana authority, more than 6,700 people were deployed across the country to bring the fires under control.
Russia is threatened with the greatest forest fire disaster of this century. The environmental organization Greenpeace has listed a burned area of 14.3 million hectares for the country since the beginning of the year. The negative record of the century was there in 2012 with an area of 16 million hectares destroyed by fire.
“That has to do with the increasing climate changes. The forest fire risk season is getting longer, the droughts are more frequent, longer and more intense, ”said Greenpeace forest expert Alexej Yaroshenko. He criticized the lack of laws, money and personnel to protect the forest.
Greenpeace submitted a list of measures to reduce the fires to the government in Moscow. For example, more foresters and volunteers would have to be deployed and citizens better informed about fire protection.
The environmentalists complain again and again that many fires are caused by humans. Despite warnings about the danger of forest fires, many Russians light campfires in the dry forests, which then often remain unattended. dpa
