Putin sends in army to battle wildfires
Russia is being urged to step up its fight against wildfires that are raging across millions of hectares of Siberia and the country’s far east. The Kremlin said that President Donald Trump had telephoned President Vladimir Putin to offer help.
More than 300 fires over an area of nearly 3 million hectares – the size of Belgium – are burning in remote and inaccessible areas, Russia’s Aerial Forest Protection Service said yesterday.
Twenty-one aircraft and 2800 people were deployed to fight fires in 116,000 hectares that could be reached in the regions of Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk and Yakutia. In north Irkutsk a cloud-seeding aircraft fired sticks of silver iodide into the sky in an attempt to bring rain.
More than 330,000 people signed a petition organised by Greenpeace Russia demanding that the authorities dedicate more resources to dousing the peat and forest fires.
The petition laments ‘‘a real ecological catastrophe’’ and says that ‘‘gigantic areas of Siberia right up to the Urals are wrapped in acrid smog’’. Russians have posted pictures online of towns in the central and eastern regions shrouded in smoke. ‘‘The authorities have made the decision not to spend money on putting out the fires; it’s expensive and [they reason that] in any case, no-one lives there,’’ Greenpeace said. ‘‘But there are settlements and people living where it’s burning, and they need saving.’’
Putin expressed gratitude to Trump for his offer of help and said that it would be accepted if it became necessary. He described the offer as ‘‘a sign that it is possible that full-scale bilateral relations will be restored in the future’’, the Kremlin said. The White House has not said what assistance was proposed.
On his call with Trump, the Russian leader said that ‘‘a powerful group of aircraft’’ had been formed in Siberia to fight the wildfires. Ten Ilyushin Il-76 planes and 10 Mil Mi-8 military helicopters were being dispatched to the Krasnoyarsk region after Putin ordered the defence ministry to join the effort. Each Il-76 can carry up to 42 tonnes of water to drop on the flames.
‘‘There are certain difficulties, but at the same time issues are being resolved with refuelling and deployment of airplanes and helicopters,’’ the Kremlin said.
Environmentalists point out that carbon dioxide emissions from the fires are contributing to global warming and that the reduction of forest means there are fewer trees to absorb it.
Researchers are monitoring an ‘‘unprecedented’’ number of wildfires inside the Arctic Circle. Satellite images have shown vast clouds of smoke above forest and peat fires in Greenland, Alaska and northern Siberia.
At least 100 ‘‘intense and longlived fires’’ tore through the Arctic in June and early July, according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. ‘‘Arctic wildfires are especially worrisome as particulate matter is more likely to settle on icy areas,’’ the monitor said. ‘‘This darkens the ice, leading to sunlight being absorbed rather than reflected, which could exacerbate global warming.’’
Alexander Uss, the regional governor of Krasnoyarsk, was criticised this week for saying that it was ‘‘pointless and maybe even harmful’’ to fight forest fires in remoter areas.
Dmitry Medvedev, the prime minister, ordered plans to be drawn up for a network of fire monitoring and prevention centres across Siberia. He also asked state investigators to look into whether arson was being used to cover up illegal logging.