Mikhail Metzel/AP
Russian authorities struggled to control hundreds of deadly wild fires across large swaths of Russia at the weekend.
With no sign of a let-up in record high temperatures, there were fears that the blazes would continue to spread.
Ekho Moskvy radio said that 770 fires were out of control in various regions. The discovery of two more bodies in a burnt-out village near Nizhny Novgorod, central Russia, brought the number of dead to 33, including three firefighters, the Ministry for Emergency Situations said.
Speaking at the weekend, President Medvedev called the heatwave and fires “a natural disaster of the kind that probably only happens every 30 or 40 years”.
Thousands of homes, many of them built of timber, have gone up in smoke and crops have withered in the fields.
Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, criticised regional officials for failing to foresee trouble after weeks of searing heat.
“Not everything was done in a timely way,” he said, “but now is not the time for squabbling.”
Mr Putin put the total loss of homes at 1,257 and assured evacuees their houses would be rebuilt by winter.
Yet the emergency looks set to get worse before it gets better. Russia, with its continental climate, always has hot summers but this year has seen freak temperatures. Temperatures of 40C (104F) are forecast for the coming week and the Emergency Situations Ministry is warning of an “extreme risk” of more forest fires.
Blazes in the Far East had tripled over the last 24 hours and covered 100,000 hectares, (247,000 acres) Itar-Tass news agency said.
Vladimir Stepanov, chief of the Emergency Ministry’s National Crisis Centre, told Mr Putin that fires had spread in the Urals, Volga and Central regions.
“The situation has worsened … because of dry and windy weather,” he said, adding that 240,000 firefighters and troops, backed by aircraft, were battling the flames.
Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, has called on Orthodox believers to pray for an end to the heat wave.
Reports said firefighters were experiencing the toughest conditions in the Voronezh, Ryazan, Vladimir and Moscow regions. These areas are more populated than the Far East and close to the capital itself. In the Moscow area, seven people have died so far.
Just as there is no smoke without fire, so there is no fire without smoke. Moscow is currently blanketed in smog, described by environmental health officials as being 10 times above usual pollution levels. The elderly and those with breathing problems have been advised to stay at home.
During the heatwave, scores of Russians have also drowned, in many cases after swimming in ponds or rivers while drunk.
In parks, Muscovites seek relief in the fountains. There are waiting lists to buy air conditioners and in most shops, electric fans have sold out.
“I never thought I would say this but I am praying for winter,” said one Muscovite. “This heat is like an illness. I crawl from the divan to the shower and back to the divan. I don’t have strength for anything more
Russian authorities struggled to control hundreds of deadly wild fires across large swaths of Russia at the weekend.
With no sign of a let-up in record high temperatures, there were fears that the blazes would continue to spread.
Ekho Moskvy radio said that 770 fires were out of control in various regions. The discovery of two more bodies in a burnt-out village near Nizhny Novgorod, central Russia, brought the number of dead to 33, including three firefighters, the Ministry for Emergency Situations said.
Speaking at the weekend, President Medvedev called the heatwave and fires “a natural disaster of the kind that probably only happens every 30 or 40 years”.
Thousands of homes, many of them built of timber, have gone up in smoke and crops have withered in the fields.
Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, criticised regional officials for failing to foresee trouble after weeks of searing heat.
“Not everything was done in a timely way,” he said, “but now is not the time for squabbling.”
Mr Putin put the total loss of homes at 1,257 and assured evacuees their houses would be rebuilt by winter.
Yet the emergency looks set to get worse before it gets better. Russia, with its continental climate, always has hot summers but this year has seen freak temperatures. Temperatures of 40C (104F) are forecast for the coming week and the Emergency Situations Ministry is warning of an “extreme risk” of more forest fires.
Blazes in the Far East had tripled over the last 24 hours and covered 100,000 hectares, (247,000 acres) Itar-Tass news agency said.
Vladimir Stepanov, chief of the Emergency Ministry’s National Crisis Centre, told Mr Putin that fires had spread in the Urals, Volga and Central regions.
“The situation has worsened … because of dry and windy weather,” he said, adding that 240,000 firefighters and troops, backed by aircraft, were battling the flames.
Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, has called on Orthodox believers to pray for an end to the heat wave.
Reports said firefighters were experiencing the toughest conditions in the Voronezh, Ryazan, Vladimir and Moscow regions. These areas are more populated than the Far East and close to the capital itself. In the Moscow area, seven people have died so far.
Just as there is no smoke without fire, so there is no fire without smoke. Moscow is currently blanketed in smog, described by environmental health officials as being 10 times above usual pollution levels. The elderly and those with breathing problems have been advised to stay at home.
During the heatwave, scores of Russians have also drowned, in many cases after swimming in ponds or rivers while drunk.
In parks, Muscovites seek relief in the fountains. There are waiting lists to buy air conditioners and in most shops, electric fans have sold out.
“I never thought I would say this but I am praying for winter,” said one Muscovite. “This heat is like an illness. I crawl from the divan to the shower and back to the divan. I don’t have strength for anything more
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