Perilous Times and Climate Change
New wave of Russian Wildfires kill two, destroy 500 buildings
* From correspondents in Moscow
* From: AFP
* September 03, 2010 11:23AM
FOREST and brush fires have flared up again in southern Russia, killing
two people and burning down nearly 500 houses and buildings, the
emergencies ministry said today.
Strong winds stoked fires that burnt 474 constructions, including 342
houses, in about 20 villages in the region of Volgograd and Saratov, a
ministry spokesman told the RIA Novosti news agency.
"The region of of Volgograd was the worst hit, with 450 buildings burnt
down including 342 houses. In the Saratov region, 24 buildings were
destroyed by fire, including 14 houses," the spokesman said.
With the emergencies ministry warning the fires risked spreading to
other southern regions, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered
authorities to mobilise all means to fight them, news agencies quoted
the Kremlin as saying.
The latest fires claimed the life of an elderly man in his seventies
and a woman also in her seventies in two villages, a local official
told the Interfax news agency.
He said that 14 people were also wounded and taken to hospital in two
other villages in the same region.
About 150 people had to be evacuated after losing their homes,
according to the emergencies ministry, which decided to dispatch three
aircraft to fight the fires.
Although temperatures have come down in Moscow since an unprecedented
heatwave this summer, in recent days they have topped 40C in the
southern region of Volgograd.
Forest fires ravaged about a million hectares in Russia in recent
months, destroying whole villages and leaving more than 50 people dead,
according to official tallies. Fires also threatened several nuclear
plants.
The emergency alert was lifted on August 23 in the last of the seven
regions affected by the fires.
Read more:
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/russian-fires-kill-two-destroy-500-buildings/story-e6frfku0-1225913723158#ixzz0yRZ5wcZq