Perilous Times and Climate Change
Forest Fire Smoke smothers Moscow amid heatwave
* From: AFP
* July 26, 2010 8:19PM
INHABITANTS of Moscow were gasping today as the Russian capital was
blanketed in a heavy cloud of smoke from forest and peat fires sparked
by the most severe heatwave for decades.
The spires of the city's famous Stalin-era skyscrapers were barely
visible behind the curtain of fog and smoke in the early morning hours
as the authorities sent in water-bombing aircraft to attack the fires
in the Moscow region.
Over the last 24 hours, firefighters have been battling 60 forest and
peat fires covering a total area of 59 hectares, the emergencies
ministry said in a statement.
Planes from the emergencies ministry, including two giant Ilyushin-76
aircraft, had dropped 550 tonnes of water to douse the fires over the
past 24 hours, it said.
Alexei Popikov, the head of local environment watchdog
Mosekomonitoring, told Interfax that the concentration of toxic
particles in the air exceeded the norm by 5-8 times.
Russia's chief general doctor Alexander Chuchalin advised Muscovites to
stay inside "with closed windows" and warned of an increase in
illnesses, with those with bronchial problems particularly at risk, RIA
Novosti reported.
Visibility on Moscow's roads in the morning was no more than 500m but
airports carried on working normally.
Throughout the city centre, the air smelled of smoke.
The Russian capital and much of the country from the Baltic to the
Pacific coasts have been basking in the severest heatwave for decades
which has destroyed 20 per cent of all of Russia's arable land.
Daytime temperatures in Moscow have been over 35C for days and are
nudging closer to the all time temperature record in the capital of
36.8C recorded back in 1920.
The heatwave has claimed hundreds of lives of people who drowned in an
attempt to cool off from the record temperatures. The horrific toll has
been blamed on drunkenness and the use of poorly-equipped beaches.
This weekend alone, 65 people drowned in Russia, Interfax quoted the
emergencies ministry as saying.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stepped into the fray, coming
up with his own advice for Russians to adapt to the hot conditions.
"Drink hot tea. They say this promotes sweating and is the best way to
cool down," he said while visiting Ukraine at the weekend.