Significant forest fires in Siberia have reached the outskirts of Russian cities, enveloping some in smoke, while firefighters in the region have fought nearly 200 fires. One of the areas most affected by these massive fires, which repeat year after year, against a backdrop of warming climate, is the city of Yugorsk, more than 1,600 kilometers northeast of Moscow, where a group more than 100 firefighters and volunteers are deployed.
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"The city has been cut off from fire and it is not threatening homes, but when the wind turns in the morning, smoke enters the city," testified AFP Alexeï Maksimeniouk, a municipal official.
In Yakutsk, a city of more than 300,000 inhabitants in eastern Siberia, photos and videos published on social networks show thick gray smoke enveloping streets and buildings. According to local authorities, dry thunderstorms caused three fires in the outskirts of the city, in an area that has been experiencing heat records for several weeks.
197 fires
The aerial forest protection service said it is currently fighting 197 fires across the country, totaling more than 43,000 hectares, mainly in the region of Yakutia, whose capital is Yakutsk.
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More than 380,000 other hectares ravaged by the flames are not affected by the fight against the fires, according to the government policy of not to fight the foci in too isolated areas through the immense uninhabited forests of Siberia.
This policy came under fire last summer, when smoke reached some of the most populous cities in Siberia. President Vladimir Putin had finally resolved to send the army to put out the fires. This year, the fires were reinforced by an extreme heat wave, a consequence of climate change. Environmental activists also blame poor management of Russian forests and the lack of resources.