Russia | At least ten dead in fires in Siberia

(Moscow) Many fires aggravated by strong winds are underway in eastern Siberia, burning hundreds of buildings and killing a dozen, local authorities said on Saturday.

In the Krasnoyarsk region, more than 450 homes were hit and at least five people died, local authorities said. There are at least 17 injured, including ten hospitalized. A state of emergency has been declared in the region.

In Kemerovo oblast, three people were found dead in a burned house and a criminal investigation was opened. In the Omsk region, there are two dead and eight wounded.

“Extinguishing is complicated by weather conditions — high winds accelerate the spread of fires and make it difficult to put an end to them,” said the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Krasnoyarsk region. Due to the wind, the fight against the flames can only be done on land, without recourse to aviation.

After holding an emergency meeting in the afternoon, the governor of the region, Alexandre Ouss, said in a statement that the fires had been caused by winds reaching in some regions 40 meters per second against 25 m/ s planned.

This wind would have caused “falling trees, overlapping and falling power lines”, following which “fires broke out simultaneously in many areas of the Krasnoyarsk Territory”.

“We have asked for help from our neighboring territories, but we are aware that it will only happen in the best case for a few hours,” Ouss said.

“I gave the order to cut off the electricity in part of the territory of the region, except for survival facilities, gas stations and water supply systems,” he said. added.

In the most affected areas, “temporary accommodation points will be opened and people will benefit from medical and psychological assistance”.

The meteorological institute “Rosguidromet has extended the forecast of strong winds to 20-25 m/s for tomorrow, and even up to 30 m/s in the mountains. But the risk of fire will gradually decrease due to cooling,” institute director Roman Vilfand told TASS.

“Such fires are rare in May. But it turns out that there was no precipitation for a long time, there were fires, plus a strong wind,” he added, specifying that the fires were of human origin.

Unprecedented fires have been ravaging Siberia for several years.

In 2021, fires, particularly in eastern Siberia, released 16 million tonnes of carbon (4^and highest volume since measurements began in 2003), according to the annual European Climate Report.