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Russia struggles to quell wildfire emergency
AFP - Wednesday, August 4
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MOSCOW (AFP) - – Firefighters struggled Tuesday to contain the worst wildfires to hit Russia for decades, as a relentless heatwave and campfires left burning by the public sparked hundreds of new blazes.
President Dmitry Medvedev has declared a state of emergency in seven Russian regions over the fires which have left tens of thousands of hectares ablaze, uprooted several thousand people and killed at least 40.
The emergency services appeared to make few inroads Tuesday with new fires appearing as quickly as they doused existing blazes. Officials said 300-400 new fires were appearing every 24 hours.
Hundreds of emergency workers were sent into the city of Sarov, the location of Russia's main nuclear research facility, to ensure the top-secret site was not damaged by fires on the city's outskirts.
The head of the Russian nuclear agency Rostrom, Sergey Kiriyenko, said "the installations at the nuclear research facility are not under threat. There is no ecological risk, or danger of explosion."
Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu told the press however that the situation in Sarov remained "tense" on Tuesday evening, but assured "we are carrying on our work. We have enough people and equipment."
Officials also announced Tuesday that fires had ripped through a naval logistics base in Kolomna, southeast of Moscow, last week and destroyed office buildings and warehouses and equipment.
Vladimir Stepanov, head of the emergency ministry's crisis centre, told reporters that hot weather was the main factor impeding efforts to put out the fires, and shifting winds were complicating the situation.
Shoigu told Medvedev there had been a deterioration after the weekend because people had been careless in their leisure activities, including with barbecues.
Russians descend in hordes to the countryside every weekend to barbecue meat, sing songs and drink vodka around campfires. It appears they have not been put off by the wildfires and extreme heat.
Some 155,000 people were involved in the efforts to douse the fires, Shoigu said.
More than 500 fires were raging in Russia Tuesday over an area of 170,000 hectares (420,000 acres) after more than 300 new fires broke out over the past day, Russian news agencies quoted the emergencies ministry as saying.
The regional development ministry said 3,493 people had been displaced by the fires, which had destroyed 1,910 homes, the Interfax news agency reported.
A country notorious for its bitterly cold winters, Russia is enduring its severest heatwave for decades which saw all-time temperature records tumble throughout July.
Forecasters warned the record temperatures would continue in the coming days, with no rain forecast and the mercury expected to hit 38 degrees Celsius (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit) in Moscow this week.
The heatwave has also hurt Russia's agriculture industry, and the agriculture ministry said Tuesday it was cutting its grain harvest forecast by millions of tonnes due to the drought.
The weather forecasting centre said the heat was caused by an area of high pressure known as an anti-cyclone that was parked over Russia and would not shift until later in August.
The areas worst hit by the fires have been the countryside around Moscow and other regions in European Russia. The Nizhny Novgorod region east of the capital has seen the worst toll with up to 20 people losing their lives.
Scene: As forest fires approach, Russian city prays for rain
There has been unusual public criticism that authorities were slow to react to the spreading fires and officials made high-profile efforts to show they were in control.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced he would personally monitor the recovery effort through remote cameras installed at every significant reconstruction site.
He said the cameras would broadcast images to the government headquarters, his own house and the government's Internet site.
"Every citizen can thus see in real time what is being done on the ground," he said in comments broadcast on state television.
Scene: Anger smoulders after Putin visit
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