It has been some forty years since fires as deadly as this have raged through Russia and the 52 dead are a grim testament to that. As of Thursday, August 6 2010 there have been some 800 fires - as many as 200 of those now out - during Russia's worst heat wave since record keeping began 130 years ago.
Missiles from a base near Moscow, some reports said nuclear, were moved to ensure they would not be caught up in a blaze.
The English-language Moscow Times reported Thursday that six countries, five former soviet republics along with Italy, sent help to control and extinguish blazes. Help included firetrucks, personnel and even aircraft, with at least Italy and the Ukraine sending jets. Four other countries, Germany, France, Poland and Bulgaria, have also offered to aid Russia.
Moscow Shrouded in Smoke as Fires Rage Throughout Central Russia
Moscow, a city of over 10 million, is shrouded in smoke and citizens walk through the city in surgical masks or covering mouths and noses with wetted cloths or handkerchiefs; the smoke is getting into buildings and down into the subway. Officials issued a warning to residents about going out due to pollution levels five time higher than normal. Many offices have been closed and the dense smoke is affecting air travel as flights into the capital have been disrupted.
"I am at home now, looking through the window. The air looks like thick fog and I can barely see anything further than 20 metres away," Moscow resident Eugenia Vinogradova told the BBC news website in an email. "I try not to watch TV reports too much, because all they bring are new details of more destroyed villages or stories of people suffering, and that is hard to see. "
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that the missiles at the Alabinsk base, 45 miles out of Moscow, an indicator of how close the fires are getting to the city itself, were moved to safer ground in case nearby fires were to overtake the base. The country's Emergency Situations Ministry said wildfires were now burning on 196,000 hectares of in Central Russia.
Heat Wave and Fires Began in Russia in June and Smoke Over Moscow Since July
The heat wave and resultant fires began in mid-June and weather officials have reported temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius or more; the high temperatures are expected until at least August 10. The Interfax News Agency quoted an "unnamed source" as saying that the death toll could be higher as there has been an increase in deaths in Moscow alone, deaths that may be due to heat-related causes.
An official from the Moscow registry office, Yevgenia Smirnova, told reporters they had "recorded 14,340 deaths in Moscow in July, that is 4824 deaths more than in July 2009." She said that the numbers did not begin to increase significantly until July, rather than in June when the heat wave began, but added "...the heatwave has certainly had an influence,"
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Bans the Exports of Russian Grains
On Thursday in an effort to put a halt to the rising costs of food in Russia, Russian Prime Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin banned exports of grain. Grain prices are rising around the world due to millions of acres of Russian wheat being destroyed because of the prolonged heat wave and drought.
“We need to prevent a rise in domestic food prices, we need to preserve the number of cattle and build up reserves for next year,” Mr. Putin said to his countrymen on a television broadcast. “As the saying goes, reserves don’t make your pocket heavy.”
In some villages all the wooden homes and structures have burned to the ground and a state of emergency has been declared in many regions of the country.
References:
Drew, Kevin and Kramer, Andrew E., August 6; "Wildfires Ravaging Swaths of Russia"; The New York Times.
Krainova, Natalya, August 6; "6 Countries Join Russian Firefighters". The Moscow Times.
Manthorpe, Jonathan, August 6; "Moscow Chokes on Raging Forest Fires". The Vancouver Sun.
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