Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Russia risks repeat of last years wildfire crisis
by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) April 19, 2011
Russia is on track to experience another summer of catastrophic
wildfires due to a lack of prevention measures and misdirected
state funds, an environmental group warned on Tuesday.
Last year's record heatwave and drought escalated wildfires in
central Russia out of control, killing dozens, threatening
military and nuclear facilities, and causing a health crisis in
Moscow with acrid smoke.
As seasonal fires begin to rage in Siberia and other regions,
there are few signs that Russia has the adequate measures in place
to avoid a repeat of 2010, said Russian Greenpeace firefighting
programme chief Grigory Kuksin
And the legal amendments introduced since last summer have
actually made matters worse, he added.
"There has been substantial money allocated for purchasing
firefighting equipment, but it is used to buy heavy equipment for
large fires that cannot be used for preventing fires when they
start," Kuksin told AFP.
"Dead trees left over from last year's fires have not been
cleared, and will make fires worse," he said. "And wildfire
professionals called in to help the emergency ministry last year
have never been paid for their work."
"I don't see any change for the better, since last summer things
have gotten worse" and new norms are merely cosmetic, making it
harder to pin responsibility to specific officials, he said.
Russia's emergency ministry admitted last week that there was not
enough equipment or money to put out forest fires, and that their
monitoring was insufficient.
Most wildfires in Russia start from people's careless handling of
fire or intentional burning dry grass, according to officials.
Several arsonists are currently facing three years in prison for
allegedly starting a fire that nearly burned down two villages in
the Siberian region of Novosibirsk, the regional emergency
ministry said Tuesday.
"Despite the restriction, people continue burning grass," the
ministry's deputy head Andrei Puzyrev was quoted as saying by
Interfax.
Although spring has been late in coming to the Moscow region,
fires are likely to start in early May as picnickers go to the
countryside during the string of May holidays, said Kuksin.
Last week, Moscow region Governor Boris Gromov issued a decree
restricting people's access to forests after May 1, Kommersant
reported.