Wildfire Smoke Blankets Russia’s Third-Largest City

27 April 2021

Published by https://www.themoscowtimes.com/

RUSSIA – Russia’s third-largest city of Novosibirsk has been blanketed by smog from dozens of nearby wildfires, with residents gasping for air and local media reporting a distinct smell of smoke in the city center.

Authorities in the Siberian city of 1.7 million on Tuesday issued a so-called “Black Sky” air quality warning, according to the local Ndn.info news website, with smoke-clearing rain not expected until early Wednesday.

“A bloody sun rose over the city because of the smog,” the outlet reported.

Photos shared by The Siberian Times showed Novosibirsk shrouded in thick sepia-toned air.

Citing global air quality ratings, Ndn.info and Siberia’s Tayga.info news website said concentrations of fine particles and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere dangerously exceed the norm.

With fire season in full swing across nearly every corner of the country, Russia’s fire map service shows Novosibirsk surrounded by dozens of blazes as close as 10 kilometers away.