GFMC: Forest Fires in the Russian Federation, 6 June 2000
Forest Fires in the Russian Federation
6 June 2000
On Friday 2 June 2000 the GFMC sent a letter to the Federal ForestService of Russia in which the possible consequences of climate change and the weakening of the fire management capabilities are highlighted. The text of the letter is given in a separate file: The Future of Forest Fire Protection in Russia
The Aerial Forest Fire Protection Service Avialesookhrana of the Federal Forest Service of Russia reports the state of fire in the 2000 fire season to the GFMC. The latest report is from 2 June 2000:
Up to 1 June 2000 a total of 8,014 fires occurred in the forests under the control of the Federal Forest Service of Russia and burning a total of 330,308 ha of forest and 135,004 ha non forest areas (inside forest lands).
During the day of 1 June 2000 a total of 150 fires were burning and affected 1,525 ha forest and non forest land.
The regions with the highest fire activity were: Chita and Irkutsk There were 9 big fires (the largest 750 ha).
Selected fire occurrence maps 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 Krai used in the maps are designations of administrative regions. Today, the following images are available for 5 June 2000:
Fig.1. Map legend
Fig.2. Coverage map showing
regional boundaries
5 June 2000:
Fig.3. Buryatia Republic / Chita Oblast Fig.4. Chita Oblast Fig.5. Republic of Yakutia
Presidential Decree on Restructuring the responsibilities of the Federal Forest Service of Russia including the Forest Fire Protection Service
In a move to restructure the federal government’s executive branch, President Vladimir Putin has eliminated the State Committees for Forestry and for Environmental Protection along with several others. The environmental and forestry functions were transferred to the Ministry on Natural Resources. The decree was signed on Friday 19 May 2000 and made public over the weekend. It triggered immediate public response. As more details will be available on the restructuring of the Federal Forest Service and the Aerial Forest Fire Protection Service Avialesookhrana the GFMC will continue to provide update information on new developments. Avialesookhrana is responsible for aerial forest fire protection on the largest contiguous forest of the world.
The GFMC was informed that the Federal Forest Service will be abolished within the next two months. The future of the Aerial Forest Fire Protection Service Avialesookhrana at this stage is still uncertain. We will provide more detailed information after 12 June 2000.
For more details on fire in the Russian Federation, Mongolia and China: See IFFN Country Notes. Scientific details on fire in the Russian Federation are provided by the Fire Research Campaign Asia-North (FIRESCAN) report.
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.
