Fire sweeps through Siberian forests

AFP ^ | 23 Apr 08 | staff

[RightWhale]

MOSCOW, April 23 (AFP) Apr 23, 2008

Russian fire services were on Wednesday battling blazes across Siberia blamed on an exceptionally mild winter and illegal logging.

The emergency situations ministry said on its website that 36,000 hectares (89,000 acres) were burning in the Amur, Buryatiya, Khabarovsk, Primorsky and Jewish Autonomous provinces.

Another 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) of forest had been consumed by fire in the previous 24 hours, the ministry said.

"To extinguish the fire, 6,551 people and 1,779 firefighting vehicles, including eight aircraft, have been deployed," the ministry said.

The Interfax news agency reported the air was thick with smoke in the oil city of Tyumen.

However the fires are not threatening residential areas or hazardous facilities such as oil and gas storage sites, the ministry said.

State television said the fires were the worst for 30 years and that a lack of winter snow had left the ground unusually dry. Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said it was no coincidence that fires were taking place in areas rich in precious timber. Some blazes were intentionally set by illegal loggers, he said.

In remarks on national television Shoigu berated his staff for ineffective use of budget resources, saying "no one pays attention to how this money is spent."

[RightWhale]

The sunlight in Fairbanks Alaska has been red for a while, which means smoke. Could easily be this Siberia stuff drifting over here.

[DustyMoment]

Russian fire services were on Wednesday battling blazes across Siberia blamed on an exceptionally mild winter and illegal logging.

Obligatory "D@mn global warming" comment.

Also, obligatory "Bush's fault" comment.



(There! Whew, got those out of the way, now we can get to posting some SERIOUS comments like - I'll bet this is the first time in 100 years the trees in Siberia have stopped shivering!!)

[RightWhale]

Whatever they burn over there comes over here--the smoke is various colors depending what it is burning. The plume comes right through the valley here. Used to be clear air until a couple decades ago when the Chinese miracle began; now it's smoky every day.

[stefanbatory]

wouldn’t illegal logging rob a forest fire of its fuel?

[RightWhale]

Illegal burning might eliminate some of the timber as well. Doesn’t make much sense, but it’s not a huge fire yet anyway.

[Joe Boucher]

I’m wondering if Russia has fears of mooselimb arsonists torching their forests like we’ve heard threats of here?

[stefanbatory]

yeah...only 89,000 acres burned.../sarc

:P

[RightWhale]

Russia might consider 89,000 square miles a large forest fire. That is Alaska scale.