GFMC: Forest Fires in the Russian Federation

Forest Fires  in the Russian Federation  

03 August 2011

Fires in Eastern Russia

192 fires burned throughout the Russian Federation on July 28, 2011. Most of the fires burned in the northwest, but the fires in the Far East were far more impressive from space.

This image, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite, shows fires burning in parts of Khabarovsk, Amur, and Sakha (Yahkutiya) on July 28, 2011. The image (below) shows many more fires across the broader region. The fires are marked in red. The Russian government reported 19 large fires in this region on July 28, and RIA Novosti, a Russian news agency, reported 41 fires on July 29.

While the fires are widespread, it is the dense smoke that stands out. The fires are not threatening any settlements, according to the Russian government, but the smoke poses its own risks. Smoke carries tiny particles that can irritate the eyes and respiratory system.

It’s not possible to tell from the image how the fires started, but 90 percent of the fires that start within 90 kilometers of a settlement in Russia are caused by people. Beyond that point, 40 percent of the fires are set by people and 60 percent are caused by lightning.

The Russian government has dedicated 7,328 people to fighting wildfires throughout the country. Weather conditions in the Far East were challenging.


This image, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on theAqua satellite, shows fires burning in parts of Khabarovsk, Amur, and Sakha (Yahkutiya) on July 28, 2011. The large image shows many more fires across the broader region. The fires are marked in red. The Russian government reported 19 large fires in this region on July 28, and RIA Novosti, a Russian news agency, reported 41 fires on July 29.


MODIS (Terra) satellite image of fires and smoke in eastern Russia (resolution: 1 km and 500m)

Fire danger map for June for Eastern Siberia:


Source: Sukachev Institute for Forest, Krasnoyarsk

Eurasian Experimental Fire Weather Information System
The system has been developed by forest fire researchers from Canada, Russia and Germany has been displayed on this website starting 25 July 2001. Complete information and a set of daily fire weather and fire behaviour potential maps covering Eurasia (the Baltic Region, Eastern Europe, countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Mongolia) can be accessed at:
https://gfmc.online/fwf/eurasia1.htm

Latest Experimental Fire Weather Index (FWI) map for Eurasia (02 August 2011)
Note: The components of the Fire Weather Index and the meteorological data below are updated daily at ca. 15:00 GMT/UTC by the Northern Forestry Centre, Canada. In the list below the latest maps (including the FWI) can be downloaded. These maps will provide the information at the date of clicking on the link.

Fire Weather Index Components Meteorological Data Fine Fuel Moisture Code (FFMC) Precipitation Duff Moisture Code (DMC) Relative humidity Drought Code (DC) Temperature Initial Spread Index (ISI) Wind direction Buildup Index (BUI) Wind speed Fire Weather Index (FWI)

Latest Situation Updates of the Aerial Forest Fire Centre of Russia

ildfire situation report of the Aerial Forest Fire Center of Russia (Avialesookhrana)2 August, 2011According to the wildfire situation report of 2 August 2011 a total of92 fires affected 2950 ha forested and 125 ha non-forested lands.48 fires of them were reported as new fires.An except 57 fires were put out the same day they have been discovered.Through all of Russia 3438 people 54 aircraft, 319 bulldozers, tractors and engines havebeen involved in fire fighting.Since the beginning of the 2011 fire season a total of 16954 firesaffected 856086 ha forested and 265630 ha non-forested lands of the Forest Fund of Russia.Most fires have been reported in the following regions:Arkhangelsk region – 24Komi republic – 14Habarovsk region – 10Source: Aerial Forest Fire Center of Russia (Avialesookhrana) Prepared for GFMC by Andrey Usachev


Satellite-derived fire information
Avialesookhrana provides also up-to-date satellite images for the Russian Federation and neighboring territories.

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Latest (03 August 2011 03:00 GMT) MODIS (Terra and Aqua) composite.
The red squares indicate regions of active fires.
For details the GFMC readers are encouraged to use the hyperlinks provided by Avialesookhrana.
(Source: Avialesookhrana cloudiness maps)

The Space Monitoring Information Support Laboratory provides extensive links to sites with satellite imagery for the Russian Federation, meteorological information as well as fire related images are accessible. The FIRMS is offering an experimental version of MODIS Keyhole Markup Language (KML) time series showing Collection 5 active fire/hotspot detections by animating the location of fires that have occurred in the region in the last 48 hours (Google Earth must be installed):
http://firefly.geog.umd.edu/kml/download.php?file=Russia_and_Asia_48h.kml

Daily Fire Occurrence and Fire Danger Maps of the Fire Laboratory of the Sukachev Institute of Forest, Krasnoyarsk
Selected fire occurrence maps, satellite images and a forest fire danger map are prepared daily by the Russian GFMC correspondent Dr. Anatoly Sukhinin, Fire Laboratory of the Sukachev Institute of Forest, Krasnoyarsk, in collaboration with the Emergency Situation Monitoring and Forecasting Agency, Krasnoyarsk branch. The maps are produced on the base of satellite data (classification by the NOAA AVHRR). They show the fire locations (by latitude and longitude) and the area affected by fire (red signature, size in ha). The red arrow at each fire location points to the nearest populated place. The terms Oblast or Kray used in the maps are designations of administrative regions. A map showing the boundaries of administrative regions and a legend is included below.

ru_fire_legend.gif (937 Byte)

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Map legend

Administrative boundaries

Overview map showing large fire locations detected over the last 10 days:

Overview

Latest maps maps showing fire activities of  02 August 2011 (selection):

   

Yakutia (Saha Republic) Khabarovsk Kray Khabarovsk Kray

More maps of other regions are available on request: info@gfmc.org

Daily Report of the EMERCOM Website

Fire situation on the territory of the Russian Federation from the 01 August 2011

104 hotbeds of wildfires with the total area 2281.83 hectares have been registered in the Russian Federation within twenty four hours. 92 hotbeds with the area of 2 870.32 ha have been extinguished. 81 hotbeds, including those emerged earlier and 10 large ones continue burning, the area of active burning is 277.89 ha, 7 468.76 ha has been contained.

Within the past twenty four hours 92 hotbeds of wildfires with the total area of 2 870.32 hectares were extinguished, including 63 with the area of 253.06 ha extinguished on the day of detection.

Within twenty four hours wildfires have gone 2 281.83 hectares, including 2 281.0 hectares – forest land, 0.42 hectares – steppe land and 0.41 ha – peat land.

81 hotbeds of wildfire (the area of active burning is 277.89 hectares, 7 468.76 ha have been contained) continue burning. Of these 78 fires with the area of 8 127.14 ha are on the forest lands (FFA), 3 hotbed with the area 208.0 ha – on specially protected areas in Khabarovsk Territory (1 hotbed of wildfire with the area 120.0 ha) and Arkhangelsk Region (2 hotbeds of wildfire with the area 88.0 ha). Including 10 large fire with the area 5 493.5 ha (3 hotbed with the area of 1 500.0 ha in Komi Republic, 6 hotbeds with the area of 3 940.0 ha in Arkhangelsk Region, 1 hotbed with the area of 53.5 in Perm Territory). There is also 1 peat fire with the area 0.01 ha in Kirov Region.

There are 110 uncontrolled undergrowth burning sites and 9 hotbeds of waste burning on the territory of the Russian Federation.

8 778 people and 1 982 units of equipment were involved to extinguish wildfires.

Of these: 1 581 people and 212 units of equipment – from EMERCOM of Russia; 289 people and 96 units of equipment – from FFA; 36 people and 17 units of equipment – from the Ministry of Natural Resourses, 1 058 people and 87 units of equipment – from the Ministry of the Interior, 4 people and 1 unit of equipment – from the Ministry of Defence, 5 810 people and 592 units of equipment – other RSChS subsystems.

Compared to the previous 24 hours there is a rise in the number of wildfires (by 12 hotbeds) and a fall in the areas on fire (by 587.49 ha).

The most difficult situation with fires remains in Komi Republics, Khabarovsk Territory and Arkhangelsk Region (hard to reach areas, unfavorable weather conditions).

Given the weather forecast, the emergency wildfire situation will remain in the Far Eastern, Siberian, Volga, Southern, North-Caucasian and Central Federal Districts: in Amur and Sakhalin Regions, Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, Khabarovsk and Altai Territories, Orenburg, Saratov, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Rostov Regions, Krasnodar Territory, Republic of Adygeya, Chechen, North Osetia-Alania, Ingushetia Republic, Stavropol Territory, Tver and Yaroslavl Regions.Change in area and number of active fire hotbeds

Source: EMERCOM of Russia

Recent Media Reports on Fires in the Russian Federation

        For more reports see GFMC Media page: https://gfmc.online/media-highlights-on-fire-policies-and-politics.html

Recent video coverage of wildland fires and politics in Russia


2011 wildland fire videos including interviews by the Federal Forest Agency of Russia (Rosleskhoz)
http://www.rosleshoz.gov.ru/media/video

News from 15 April 2011
http://www.1tv.ru/news/social/174762

News from 22 April 2011
http://www.1tv.ru/news/social/175158

Background on Wildland Fires in the Russian Federation

Bibliography on fire in ecosystems of boreal Eurasia
One of the results of the first international fire science conference in the Russian Federation (1993) was the publication of a monograph on fire in boreal Eurasia, including some selected contributions on boreal North America. The literature cited in the monograph contains numerous publications which in many cases are not easily accessible. To facilitate literature search the bibliographical sources are provided by topic (chapter).
Goldammer, J.G. and V.V. Furyaev. 1996. Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 390 p.

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