Calls for help as fires rage near Arctic village, Svatay
Desperate calls for help from
Arctic village of Svatay caged
by wildfires
Russia’s coldest region struggles to tame fires intensified by lengthy heatwave in extreme north.
A wildire in Tomponsky ulus (district) of Yakutia, east of Republic’s capital city of Yakutsk
27 July, 2020
Wildfires are raging all around the vast Republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia,
with a massive blanket of smoke visible from space in the far north beside the
Arctic Ocean.
Some are in the areas too remote to reach, but many are dangerously close to populated areas like the Arctic town of Chersky, a gateway to Pleistocene Park,
an experimental scientific base aiming to show how the release of carbon can be
slowed by restoring the flora to grassland as it was in the era of the extinct woolly mammoth.
A key power line connecting the town to the electricity grid was damaged in the fire, leaving its population of more than two thousand people to rely on an emergency generator.
‘We didn’t have wildfires reaching this far north to our area for many years’, said scientist Nikita Zimov, director of Pleistocene Park.
‘Last time it was this bad forty years ago in the 80s’.
Satellite and ground images of wilfires in the extreme north of Yakutia. Sentinel2 images are by
Pierre Markuso (top), Antonio Vecoli (Svatay) and Srednekolymsk24
More than 400 people are surrounded by fire in the village of Svatay in the
extreme north of Yakutia, with flames reaching as close to the houses as 500-700 metres.
Visibility is near zero due to thick smoke, with gusty wind blowing fires stronger
and helping them spread.
Men, women, children and elderly people are all building wide strips of mineral
soil to prevent the fire from reaching the village.
‘Currently the situation in Svatay is out of control’, said reporters of Srednekolymsk24 newspaper.
‘Reports from Svatay are alike to news from the frontline, with fight against the
wildfires continuing day and night.
‘Firefighting equipment is giving up with three pumps breaking down. Locals need
20 more firefighting back packs and sleeves, and more support’, said regional
Sakha News newspaper
Russia’s coldest region struggles to tame fires intensified by lengthy heatwave in extreme north. Pictures: Srednekolymsk24
Apocalyptic pictures from the site show the village completely engulfed in smoke.
Elsewhere in Yakutia a ‘rain’ of wildfire ashes was reported in the village of
Batagay in the Ust-Aldansky district.
A video from another village of Aleko-Kyuyol above the Arctic circle shows men
fighting fire in a cloud of smoke with basic back pack fire extinguishers.
An infernal-looking picture of a village with a wildfire on its doorstep came from Tomponsky district of Yakutia.
Several days ago a cloud-spiking Ministry of Emergencies AN-26 plane was sent
to Yakutia from the Trans-Baikal region of Siberia to help fight the wildfires by ‘stimulating’ rain.
Local Polar Airlines has long been deploying its helicopters on fighting wildfires,
with crews working round the clock on flights to republic’s most remote corners.
Videos of wildfires surrounding villages of Svatay and Aleko-Kyuyol above the
Arctic circle, credit Khalyma Dolgunnara and Srednekolymsk24
Wildfires Hit Siberian Nature Reserve
Wildfires which have scorched parts of Siberia this summer on the back of a prolonged heatwave wave spreasd to a remote Russian nature reserve on Saturday.
26 July, 202
Wildfires which have scorched parts of Siberia this summer on the back of a prolonged heatwave wave spreasd to a remote Russian nature reserve on Saturday.
The fire has been raging in the forest of the Denezhkin Kamen Nature Reserve for a week and hit the area of 30 hectares (74 acres).
Russia’s Aerial Forest Protection Service on Saturday reported 153 active fires across the country, with 40 of them in Sverdlovsk region.
Strong winds and lack of natural water resources for firefighters have exacerbated the spread of the fires at the reserve, with helicopters bringing the only source of water necessary to stop the spread.
According to Aerial Forest Protection Service, lightning could have sparked the massive fires.
