State of emergency in Yakutia - forest fires blaze in Russia
In the largest country in the world, hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest are burning. Around 1500 people are in action to extinguish the fires, but resources are lacking in many places and the Russian authorities are letting the fires burn themselves.
Due to devastating forest fires in Siberia, the Russian authorities have declared a state of emergency in the Jakutia region. In the northeastern part of Russia, more than 100 fires were burning on over 331,000 hectares of land, according to the Civil Defense Ministry in Moscow. Approximately 1500 people were involved in extinguishing the fires. Currently, there are 353 fires on a total area of over 600,000 hectares in 18 regions, it was stated. The Far East is particularly affected. Forests were also burning in the Amur and Baikal regions.
The extensive forest and steppe fires in the Arctic region have caused significant smoke development in recent weeks. Several cities have sunk in the smog. Most fires were burning in the northeastern part of Russia, where extensive damage to forests and steppe had already occurred in the summer of 2021, as reported by the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) of the European Union.
According to CAMS, the causes for the large spread are much higher temperatures and less rainfall than usual in the affected region, which is part of the Russian republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Copernicus data shows temperatures there up to seven degrees higher than the long-term average (1991-2020) and significant drought.
The Russian forest firefighting unit Avialesookhrana reported that due to dry thunderstorm fronts, new natural fires could break out. The flames were spreading due to strong winds and a lack of rainfall. In particularly remote regions, the units often forego extinguishing due to personnel and cost reasons.
The forest fires in Yakutia, a region within the Russian republic, have contributed to the state of emergency declared by the authorities. These fires, largely unaided due to resource shortages, have burned over 331,000 hectares of land internationally, affecting neighboring regions such as the Amur and Baikal. With Russia being the largest country in the world, these forest fires have burned hundreds of thousands of hectares, raising global concern.
