Wildfires rage across drought-hit Russia
Source: Agencies |
August 2, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
HUNDREDS of new fires broke out yesterday in Russian forests and fields that have been dried to a crisp by drought and record heat. Firefighters brought some of the wildfires raging around cities under control.
The wildfires that began threatening much of west Russia last week have killed 28 people and destroyed or damaged 77 towns or villages, the Emergencies Ministry said. Thousands of people have been evacuated from areas in the path of flames, but no deaths have been recorded since late on Wednesday.
Army troops and volunteers have joined more than 22,000 firefighters in combating the fires, which blazed just outside Moscow and in several provinces east and south of the capital.
The region around Voronezh, a city of 850,000 people about 475 kilometers south of Moscow, was one of the worst hit. Half of the 300 homes in the village of Maslovka were reduced to cinders.
Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Chernova said fires in the Voronezh region were under control yesterday and no longer threatened any population centers, but new fires were breaking out elsewhere.
Of the 774 fires burning yesterday, 369 had started in the past 24 hours. More than 128,000 hectares were ablaze, including in the regions around Nizhny Novgorod, Russia's fifth-largest city, and the city of Ryazan, just southeast of Moscow. The fires also were intensifying in regions farther to the east.
Smoky air has settled over cities, already baking in the heat, and many residents complain of headaches and tummy bugs. In Moscow, the smog has come mainly from fires in dried-up peat bogs.
The wildfires that began threatening much of west Russia last week have killed 28 people and destroyed or damaged 77 towns or villages, the Emergencies Ministry said. Thousands of people have been evacuated from areas in the path of flames, but no deaths have been recorded since late on Wednesday.
Army troops and volunteers have joined more than 22,000 firefighters in combating the fires, which blazed just outside Moscow and in several provinces east and south of the capital.
The region around Voronezh, a city of 850,000 people about 475 kilometers south of Moscow, was one of the worst hit. Half of the 300 homes in the village of Maslovka were reduced to cinders.
Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Chernova said fires in the Voronezh region were under control yesterday and no longer threatened any population centers, but new fires were breaking out elsewhere.
Of the 774 fires burning yesterday, 369 had started in the past 24 hours. More than 128,000 hectares were ablaze, including in the regions around Nizhny Novgorod, Russia's fifth-largest city, and the city of Ryazan, just southeast of Moscow. The fires also were intensifying in regions farther to the east.
Smoky air has settled over cities, already baking in the heat, and many residents complain of headaches and tummy bugs. In Moscow, the smog has come mainly from fires in dried-up peat bogs.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
