MOSCOW | Russia is facing a “difficult situation” with forest fires due to “abnormal” heat, especially in a region near Moscow, the Russian capital, which regularly suffers from ocher smoke, the Russian president warned on Wednesday. Vladimir Putin.
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“Because of the harsh weather conditions, the situation in a number of regions in the European part of the country is difficult,” Putin said during a video conference with regional officials on the forest fires.
“These are mainly the forest fires in the Ryazan region,” which is about 250 kilometers east of Moscow, he said.
According to local emergency services, the forest fires devastated more than 11,700 hectares in the Ryazan region, against a background of daily temperatures exceeding 31 degrees Celsius, accompanied by wind gusts at a speed of 10 meters per second.
More than 9,500 firefighters and rescuers have been dispatched to fight the fire, as well as eight special aircraft and seven helicopters, the region’s acting governor Pavel Malkov said during the meeting chaired by Mr Cheese Fries.
“It’s a very tough test,” he regretted, emphasizing that “there is no precipitation and we don’t expect it any time soon”.
However, Mr Malkov said he was confident the fires “will be brought under control within two or three days and fully extinguished within a week or two”.
Last week, smoke from the fires that had been going on for days finally enveloped parts of the city of Moscow. Smoke and the smell of burning were also present in several districts of the capital on Monday.
Moscow City Hall responded vigorously by dispatching 8,500 men to the Ryazan region to extinguish the fire to support a thousand local firefighters and rescue workers who were already mobilized.
“Moscow is regularly blanketed in smoke, but the situation is becoming more manageable today,” Russian capital Mayor Sergei Sobyanin welcomed Putin on Wednesday.
Russia has been ravaged by severe forest fires in recent years, particularly in Siberia and the Far East, vast and inaccessible areas.