Negilgence
Negligence with fire, arsons cause many forest fires in Russia
ITAR-TASS News Agency
DATELINE: MOSCOW, June 15
Negligence with fire and premeditated arsons cause man forest fires in Russian regions. Dishonest businessmen commit arsons to get cheap timber. Thirty-five fires out of 38 large and small fires registered in the Altai territory broke out for these reasons last weekend. Only two fires have been put out by now, Itar-Tass correspondent Valentin Pavlov said.
All in all 800 fires have broken out in Altai since the beginning of the fire-prone season. As many as 435 forest fires on the total area of 580 hectares have been reported by this time last year. Torrential rains could not extinguish all fires in the taiga of the Irkutsk region, a source in the territorial department of the forest protection air base told Itar-Tass correspondent Oksana Zapolskaya.
Rains in Western and central districts of the region help putting out more than 30 fires on the area of 700 hectares, particularly the most difficult on the border with the Krasnoyarsk territory. However, six sections of taiga on the area of more than 500 hectares are still blazing in Northwestern districts of the region. Forests in the Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsky districts are ablaze. More than 50 fires were reported in Chukotka, Itar-Tass correspondent in Anadyr Olga Shipsha said.
People who forget to put out bonfires are to blame for most small fires near settlements. These fires are effectively extinguishing and do not pose a threat for residents of cities and villages. Large fires break out in the cold desert over warm and dry weather at least 50 kilometres away from settlements. The extinguishing of one fire even with the help of aircraft takes a week on average. The largest fire has already been blazing for three days in the Anadyr district between the villages of Vaegi and Markovo. Its area reaches 3,000 square kilometres.
