Forest fires are raging in Siberia. According to media reports, the authorities cannot get the situation under control because the army is deployed in the Ukraine war.
Moscow – Siberia is considered one of the favorite places of Wladimir Putin. The Russian President likes to be photographed in Siberia for the state press. The attack on the Ukraine could even have an impact as far as Siberia. Heavy forest fires are raging in northern Russia: At least 270,000 hectares of forest are said to be in flames in Siberia this year. This roughly corresponds to the size of Saarland. Around 4000 individual fires have to be extinguished.
Fires in Russia: The army probably cannot help with extinguishing work because of the Ukraine war
According to media reports Russia but not behind with the extinguishing work, since a large part of the army in the Ukraine war is in use. It is customary for governors on large fires Moscow ask for support from the army. According to the news channel n-tv, which refers to a report by the state television channel NTW in Russia, inmates and prison guards are already helping to extinguish the fire in the town of Gromadsk.
Amber Soya, an expert on wildfires at the Langley Research Center of the US space agency Nasa, told the US portal axiosthat the resources for firefighting, which had been scarce even before the Ukraine war, had become even less. Also, with the general population of ‘men’ and firefighters gone, soya said, it meant firefighting resources were “severely limited”. For the big fires, military aircraft are often needed, also to evaluate satellite images, climate expert Jessica McCarty from Miami University in Ohio told the radio station CBC. Currently, these requests for military assistance are not being made and no equipment is being sent. The scientists simply let the fires continue to burn.
Fire in Russia: the army is probably missing from the Ukraine war in extinguishing work
The Russian military was deployed to fight the fires last year, confirms Kirsten Thonicke from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research Mirror online. On the other hand, it is still uncertain whether the army is not only deployed to extinguish the fire because of the Ukraine war. There could also be other reasons: for example, too much smoke and safety problems for the fire-fighting aircraft.
According to Prof. Dr. Johann Georg Goldammer, on the other hand, said the use of the Russian army when firing in Siberia generally rare. Of the Head of the Global Fire Monitoring Center at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry at the University of Freiburg told the television station n-tvthat the army would only be called into action in emergencies. Initially, the forest administration and the Russian Ministry of Disaster Management EMERCOM are responsible. Fire brigades with volunteer firefighters like in Germany, on the other hand, do not exist in the same form. Overall, there are only around 1.2 million firefighters, just a little more than in Germany, reports the expert. That’s not much compared to the much smaller country of Germany. According to Prof. Goldammer, the fires are still within limits. However, if it stays dry and there is no rain, the fires could spread like last year.
Devastating forest fires in Russia: Russian fire brigade is understaffed
According to experts, the taiga coniferous forest in Siberia is prone to fires, especially in spring. Devastating fires have been raging in Siberia for the past few years. Scientists cite various reasons for the fires: The causes of the fires include lightning strikes and farmers who burn down their fields. However, the researchers are also observing climate changes caused by man-made climate change: According to the environmental organization, a thinner snow cover, higher temperatures and extreme drought and winds were the cause WWF in recent years for the devastating fires.
From 2019 to June 2020, an area the size of Hungary burned in Siberia. The fires also push unusually high levels of emissions into the atmosphere and can also cause the permafrost to thaw over the long term. Also in other parts of the world, including in the USA and Australia, there have been repeated devastating bushfires in recent years. (df)
#Prisoners #extinguish #fires #soldiers #missing