The smoke is spreading across six time zones. The fires that have been ravaging the forests of Siberia and eastern Russia since June have already consumed 3 million hectares – an area equivalent to that of Belgium. As is the case every summer, large-scale forest fires are threatening eastern Russia. But this year, the situation is particularly worrying.
For the time being, only uninhabited and remote areas have been affected. However, hundreds of separate fires have been recorded in the Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk regions and in Yakutia, where nearly 1.8 million hectares have been burnt. The high temperatures (over 30°C) and strong winds that have been affecting Russia for several weeks are playing a key role in the intensity of these fires.
The Russian government has declared a state of emergency in several affected regions and has issued an alert ‘black sky’, which warns the most vulnerable members of the public and advises businesses to scale back their activities. However, local residents consider these measures to be insufficient. An online petition, signed on Tuesday by more than 725,000 people (compared with 300,000 the previous day), is calling on the federal government to declare a state of emergency for all regions affected by the fires.
Inaction and a lack of understanding
Whilst the 2018 record of 3.2 million hectares burnt is almost matched, the fires continue to spread and very few fire-fighting operations have been launched. In fact, since 2015, the authorities have been able to decide not to extinguish a fire if it does not directly threaten homes and if the costs of extinguishing it would be higher than the material damage caused.
On 17 July, the Krasnoyarsk Regional Government estimated the cost of fighting the fires at 141 million roubles (2 million euros), compared with 4 million for the expected property damage. The decision was therefore taken not to intervene directly at the fire sites. Hundreds of firefighters have nevertheless been mobilised to ensure that the flames do not threaten homes and infrastructure.
The authorities are hoping that rain and snow will solve the problem. But the Russian people do not understand their government’s inaction and are rallying on social media using the hashtag #SaveSiberianForests.