Hundreds of Russian towns shrouded in smoke from wildfires

Staff

5 years ago

This July 21, 2019 satellite image provided by NASA shows winds carrying individual plumes of smoke in Russia, center right, towards the southwest, mixing with a swirling storm system. As of Wednesday, July 31, 2019, forest fires that have engulfed nearly 30,000 square kilometers (11,580 square miles) of territory in Siberia and the Russian Far East _ an area the size of Belgium. (Joshua Stevens, VIIRS, NASA EOSDIS/LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership, NASA Earth Observatory via AP)

Heavy smoke covers the center of the eastern Siberian city of Chita, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019, as Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visits the region. Russian authorities have declared a state of emergency in five areas, including all of the Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk regions, which lie north of Mongolia. (AP Photo)

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attends a meeting in Chita, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019, with local government and Russian Emergency situations Ministry officials to discuss the wildfires in the region. Russian authorities have declared a state of emergency in five areas, including all of the Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk regions, which lie north of Mongolia. (Alexander Astafyev, Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP)

This image made from video provided by RU-RTR Russian television channel shows a view of a forest fire in the Boguchansky district of the Krasnoyarsk region, Russia Far East, Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia’s military to join efforts to fight forest fires that have engulfed nearly 30,000 square kilometers (11,580 sq. miles) of territory in Siberia and the Russian Far East. (RU-RTR Russian Television via AP)

MOSCOW — Hundreds of Russian towns and cities are shrouded in heavy smoke from wildfires in Siberia and the Far East Thursday, and the blazes appear to be spreading in remote terrain.

Avialesookhrana, Russia’s aerial forest protection service, said more than 11,850 square miles are on fire, with the vast majority in areas that are hard to reach and where potential damage is likely to be less than the cost of fighting them.

Although the fires have not hit populated areas, heavy smoke from them is affecting about 800 communities, officials said, including the large cities of Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and Chita.

Footage on Russian television showed planes dumping water on fires that were belching smoke amid vast stretches of trees. Firemen on the ground sprayed thin water streams on small fire remnants.

States of emergency have been declared in the regions of Irkutsk, Buryatia, Sakha and Krasnoyarsk.

In Chita, 2,900 miles east of Moscow, the center of the city was cloaked in heavy gray as Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited. Medvedev called for effective use of local resources to fight the fires.

The Russian military has joined the firefighting efforts, sending transport planes and helicopters. But activists believe the government is not taking nearly enough action and plan to protest Thursday evening at the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Meteorologists say rain is expected in some of the burning areas, but not enough to put out the fires, state news agency Tass reported.

Some of the fires are believed to have been started by lightning strikes. Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s main criminal investigative body, said Thursday it was sending representatives to the region to probe the causes.