GFMC: Forest Fires in the Russian Federation
Forest Fires in the Russian Federation
27 August 2011
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 18 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 (19 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
Wildfire situation report of the Aerial Forest Fire Center of Russia (Avialesookhrana) 18 July, 2011
According to the wildfire situation report of 2 August 2011 a total of
124 fires affected 155 ha forested and 32 ha non-forested lands.
34 fires of them were reported as new fires.
All except 25 fires were put out the same day they have been discovered.
Through all of Russia 1055 people 29 aircraft, 160 bulldozers, tractors and engines
have been involved in fire fighting.
Since the beginning of the 2011 fire season a total of 18484 fires affected
941,494 ha forested and 308,024 ha non-forested lands of
the Forest Fund of Russia. Most fires have been reported in the following regions:
Arkhangelsk region – 17
Komi republic – 19
Perm-11
There are large fires:
Arkhangelsk region- 1 fire, area burned 50 ha, forested.
Ivanovo region- 1 peat fire, total area burned (beginning Aug 23) 403 ha forested, 187 ha non forested
Source: Aerial Forest Fire Center of Russia
Satellite-derived fire information
Avialesookhrana provides also up-to-date satellite images for the Russian Federation and neighboring territories.
Latest (27 August 2011 09:00 GMT) NOAA 12&14 AVHRR composite.
The red squares indicate regions of active fires (MODIS Detection).
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.
Map legend
Administrative boundaries
Overview map showing large fire locations detected over the last 10 days (20th – 30th August 2011):
Overview
Latest maps maps showing fire activities of 19 July 2011 (selection):
Yakutia (Saha Republic) Yakutia (Saha Republic) Khabarovsk Kray
More maps of other regions are available on request: info@gfmc.org
From the Media
Fire situation on the territory of the Russian Federation from the 31 August 2011
45 hotbeds of wildfires with the total area 71.95 hectares have been registered in the Russian Federation within twenty four hours. 50 hotbeds with the area of 115.8 ha have been extinguished. 11 hotbeds including those emerged earlier and one large one continue burning, the area of active burning is 3.88 ha, 92.42 ha has been contained.
Within the past twenty four hours50 hotbeds of wildfires with the total area of 115.8 hectares were extinguished, including 39 with the area of 21.85 ha extinguished on the day of detection.
Within twenty four hours wildfires have gone 71.95 hectares, including 59.64 hectares forest land, 3.31 ha – peat land, 9.0 – steppe land.
11 hotbeds of wildfire (the area of active burning is 3.88 hectares, 92.42 ha has been contained) continue burning. All the hotbeds are on the forest lands (FFA).
There are 61 uncontrolled undergrowth burning sites and 16hotbeds of waste burning in the territory of the Russian Federation.
3 555 people and 1 252 units of equipment were involved to extinguish wildfires.
Of these:
871 people and 287 units of equipment – from EMERCOM of Russia;
525 people and 257 units of equipment – from FFA;
16 people and 6 units of equipment from the Ministry of Natural Resourses;
535 people and 198 units of equipment – from the Ministry of the Interior;
79 people and 11 units of equipment – from the Ministry of Defense;
1 529 people and 493 units of equipment – other RSChS subsystems.
Change in area and number of active fire hotbeds
Source: EMERCOM of Russia
Recent Media Reports on Fires in the Russian Federation
- RIA NOVOSTI regular news & updates (2011) in Russian:
- RIA NOVOSTI regular news & updates (2011) in English:
- Russia to set up three amphibious aircraft groups to fight wildfires (published by www.en.rian.ru, 17 August 2011)
- Russian forests burn for second successive year (published by www.guardian.co.uk, 09 August 2011)
- Peat smog hits Moscow Region (published by www.themoscownews.com, 08 August 2011)
- Now, an online game where Putin tackles forest fires (published by www.in.news.yahoo.com, 05 August 2011)
- Firefighters battle 26 wildfires in Russian Far East (published by http://en.rian.ru, 17 July 2011)
- Shall peat bog fires cause emergency situation in Russia? (published by www.russia-ic.com, 07 July 2011)
- Rain Keeps Smoke Away (published by www.themoscowtimes.com, 06 July 2011)
- Rain could be Moscow’s last defense against the smog (published by http://themoscownews.com, 05 July 2011)
- Firefighters in Russia’s Far East put out all but one forest fires (published by http://en.rian.ru, 01 July 2011)
- Firefighters put out half of 12 forest fires in Russia’s Far East in past 24 hours (published by http://en.rian.ru, 28 June 2011)
- Ministry Fights Forest Fires With Crosses (published by www.themoscowtimes.com, 27 June 2011)
- 400 wildfires blaze across Siberia (published by www.ibtimes.com, 14 June 2011)
- Russian Wildfires Could Be Much Worse Than Last Year (published by www.businessinsider.com, 09 June 2011)
- Moscow faces more peat fires this year: Greenpeace (published by articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 09 June 2011)
- Russia facing wave of wildfires, could be worse than last years (published by www.digitaljournal.com, 09 June 2011)
- Fire fighting efforts are falling behind schedule (published by themoscownews.com, 08 June 2011)
- A Day of Fighting Forest Fires (published by www.themoscowtimes.com, 07 June 2011)
- Russia on fire (published by www.globalpost.com, 07 June 2011)
- Forest fires expanding in Siberia (published by www.upi.com, 05 June 2011)
- Emergencies ministry says much of Russia not ready for wildfires (published by http://en.rian.ru, 01 June 2011)
- Unknown cause for Russian arms depot fire (published by www.euronews.net, 27 May 2011)
- The Ural cluster got into wild fires (published by www.rusbiznews.com, 25 May 2011)
- Wildfires situation in Siberia stabilises local administration (published by www.itar-tass.com, 24 May 2011)
- Fears of repeat disaster as fires rage in Russian east (published by www.bbc.co.uk, 24 May 2011)
- Forest Fires Rage In Russia’s Far East, Siberia (published by http://planetark.org, 23 May 2011)
- Forest fires spread in Siberia (published by http://en.rian.ru, 22 May 2011)
- Severe forest fires in Russia’s Siberian provinces (published by Interfax, 20 May 2011)
- Wildfire spreads in Russia’s Siberia (published by http://world.globaltimes.cn, 15 May 2011)
- Firefighters battle raging wildfires in Siberia (published by http://en.rian.ru, 08 May 2011)
- Greenpeace accuses authorities of failing to fight wildfires (published by themoscownews.com, 06 May 2011)
- Firefighters battle 10 wildfires in Russian Far East (published by http://en.rian.ru, 03 May 2011)
- Medvedev smoulders over wild fire threat (published by themoscownews.com, 28 April 2011)
- Peat-bog flooding stepped up in central Russia to prevent wildfires (published by english.ruvr.ru, 28 April 2011)
- Medvedev orders no repeat of 2010 wildfire chaos (Source: Reuters, 27 April 2011)
- Meeting on wildfires prevention (published by eng.kremlin.ru, 27 April 2011)
- Medvedev to send officials to wildfires frontline (published by www.thenewage.co.za, 27 April 2011)
- Siberian forest fires getting closer to homes (published by www.newsbcm.com, 25 April 2011)
- 32 forest fires contained in Siberia by Monday morning (published by www.itar-tass.com, 25 April 2011)
- Number of Forest Fires in Siberia up 50 Percent (published by www.bernama.com, 23 April 2011)
- Vladimir Putin demands all agencies thoroughly prepare for fire season (published by www.newsbcm.com, 21 April 2011)
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
- Forest Fire and Smoke Episode in Western Russia 2010
- IFFN Russian Federation Special Issue (IFFN 32)
- Russia 2002 fire report
- IFFN Russian Federation 2002 Fire Special (IFFN 28)
- IFFN Reports from Russia
- Fire Research Campaign Asia-North (FIRESCAN)
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.