Monday 13 April 2015

At least 23 dead as massive grass fire rips through Siberian towns and villages


Hundreds of people in southern Siberia took refuge in temporary shelters Monday after their homes were destroyed by forest fires that have left more than 20 people dead, officials said.

At least 23 people have so far been killed by fires in the republic of Khakasia, the Interfax news agency cited Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin as saying Monday. More than 900 people have suffered injuries, according to regional authorities.

Almost 1,300 houses in 34 villages and towns across the republic have sustained varying degrees of damage from the fires, the regional authorities said Monday in an online statement. Some 5,000 people have been rendered homeless, news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Shelters have been opened to help those affected, the regional administration said in a separate statement, and by Monday morning the shelters were housing 567 people, including 177 children.

More than 70 people had to be treated for burns and smoke inhalation, while homes were destroyed as flames fuelled by strong winds ravaged settlements throughout the republic situated in the country’s remote southern Siberian region.

Some 5,000 firefighters and thousands more volunteers were said to have worked day and night to save a reported 60,000 properties from destruction and take control of the fire.

Planes and helicopters were also used in a bid to stop the fire from spreading.

On Monday morning, safety officials reported that the fire had been largely put out but firefighters were still on high alert to ensure that no new fires started.

The fire is reported to have been the product of mass grass burning by residents in the area.

Grass burning has become a tradition in Russia, and every spring fires are started in agricultural areas in a bid to “enrich the soil with ashes.”

This is often carried out without care and can lead to massive fires that destroy property, crops and wildlife across the region.

Alexei Yaroshenko, a forest expert at environment conservation activist group Greenpeace, told the Govorit Moskva radio station that Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov and regional Governor Viktor Zimin should be held responsible for the deadly fires.

“We need to punish those who did not adopt systematic measures to fight the burning of dry grass: our Emergency Situations Minister Puchkov first and foremost," Yaroshenko said.

"The establishment of fire safety measures for the burning of dry grass was commissioned by the president two years ago. The blame lies above all with the Emergency Situations Ministry and, of course, with the head of the region,” he said.

The Federal Forestry Agency has also accused regional authorities of mismanaging the crisis, saying in a statement Sunday that they had failed to adopt the agency's recommended measures on preventing wildfires.

Officials said that this year’s particularly severe fires were caused by “uncontrolled burning, dry weather and uncharacteristically “strong and rough winds”.

“As soon as snow melts while rivers are still covered by ice, dry grass burns like gunpowder,' said emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov, “People begin to burn grass on their plots and fire spreads to agricultural land and pastures are burnt.”

Temporary camps were set up in the republic's Beisky and Shirinsky districts to accommodate people displaced by the fire.

An investigation is now currently underway to find out exactly where the fire was started.

Monday 13 April 2015

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/at-least-15-dead-as-massive-grass-fire-rips-through-siberian-towns-and-villages--video-10173089.html

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/death-toll-from-siberian-fires-rises-to-15-hundreds-of-homes-destroyed/518989.html

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