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RUSSIA MOVES ROCKETS AS WILDFIRES SPREAD
JIM HEINTZ
Associated Press
Aug 5, 2010 07:57 AM
MOSCOW (AP) - A Russian military garrison near Moscow moved all its
artillery rockets to a safer location as wildfires advanced in the
region, the government said Thursday.
Col. Alexei Kuznetsov, a Defense Ministry spokesman, told The
Associated Press that the garrison near Naro-Fominsk, 70 kilometers
(45 miles) southwest of Moscow, was not in immediate danger. But the
decision to move the explosive materiel underlined the challenges posed
by the hundreds of fires raging in Russia after weeks of intense heat
and drought.
A wildfire leapt into a Russian naval air base outside Moscow last
week, causing substantial damage; Russian media reported as many as
200 planes may have been destroyed. Kuznetsov did not give details
of where the rockets were moved to, or when the operation occurred.
In neighboring Ukraine, also suffering from heat and lack of rain,
a wildfire on Thursday was within three kilometers (two miles) of a
military base in the Dnirpropetrovsk region, local news reports said.
The regional emergencies ministry said only that a 300-hectare
(750-acre) fire was close to being extinguished. In all, wildfires
in eastern Ukraine have destroyed about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres).
Almost 600 fires were reported burning in Russia on Thursday, mostly
in the western stretches of the country. The death toll from the
fires stands at 50.
Earlier, a shelter with some 1,800 animals near Moscow reported that
it had been threatened by fires and that one had approached within 150
meters (yards) before being extinguished. But shelter director Daria
Taraskina said late Thursday that there were no blazes nearby, though
concern remained high for the dogs, cats and retired circus animals
at the facility in Khoteichi, 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Moscow.
Thick smog that had blanketed Moscow partially lifted early Thursday
but could return with no end in sight to a record heat wave,
officials warned.
Temperatures up to 100 F (38 C) have exacerbated forest and peat bog
fires across Russia's central and western regions, destroying close
to 2,000 homes. Officials have suggested the 10,000 firefighters
battling the blazes aren't enough. The forecast for the week ahead
shows little change in the capital and surrounding regions, where
the average summer temperature is around 23 (75).
In the blaze-ravaged village of Plotava, 35 miles (60 kilometers) east
of Moscow, local official Viktor Sorokin lamented that the number of
fire wardens in woodland and peat bog areas had halved to 150 in the
last few years under new rules.
"There used to be more of them, now there aren't enough," he said.
Some locals are taking the initiative to make up the shortfall in
firefighters.
"We woke up several days ago and we couldn't breathe," said Alexander
Babayev, a 27-year-old owner of a drive-in theater, before taking a
hose to low rising flames flickering above the smoldering ground.
Babayev assembled a motley team of volunteers using a social networking
website and, after a few instructions from professionals, they began
tending to fires.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has promised to build new, better
homes before winter, and vowed each victim would receive $6,600 in
compensation. The sum is huge in a country whose average monthly
wage is around $800, and Russian media say some residents may have
deliberately torched their dwellings to qualify.
To the east, firefighters focused on beating flames back from a
top-secret nuclear research facility in the city of Sarov. A Sarov
news website on Thursday cited local officials as saying a wall of
fire had been broken down into several smaller blazes. On Wednesday,
officials said the closest blaze was still several miles (kilometers)
from the main facilities at the Russian Federal Nuclear Research
Center and as a precaution all hazardous materials had been evacuated.
In the capital, President Dmitry Medvedev fired several high-ranking
military officials Wednesday over what he called criminal negligence
in fires that ravaged a military base.
Russia has been sent helicopters and planes to help douse the flames
from Ukraine, Armenia, Italy, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, Emergencies
Minister Sergei Shoigu said in televised comments.
_____
Associated Press writers Mansur Mirovalev in Plotava, Khristina
Narizhnaya and David Nowak in Moscow and Anna Menichuk in Kiev,
Ukraine, contributed to this report.
From: A. Papazian
JIM HEINTZ
Associated Press
Aug 5, 2010 07:57 AM
MOSCOW (AP) - A Russian military garrison near Moscow moved all its
artillery rockets to a safer location as wildfires advanced in the
region, the government said Thursday.
Col. Alexei Kuznetsov, a Defense Ministry spokesman, told The
Associated Press that the garrison near Naro-Fominsk, 70 kilometers
(45 miles) southwest of Moscow, was not in immediate danger. But the
decision to move the explosive materiel underlined the challenges posed
by the hundreds of fires raging in Russia after weeks of intense heat
and drought.
A wildfire leapt into a Russian naval air base outside Moscow last
week, causing substantial damage; Russian media reported as many as
200 planes may have been destroyed. Kuznetsov did not give details
of where the rockets were moved to, or when the operation occurred.
In neighboring Ukraine, also suffering from heat and lack of rain,
a wildfire on Thursday was within three kilometers (two miles) of a
military base in the Dnirpropetrovsk region, local news reports said.
The regional emergencies ministry said only that a 300-hectare
(750-acre) fire was close to being extinguished. In all, wildfires
in eastern Ukraine have destroyed about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres).
Almost 600 fires were reported burning in Russia on Thursday, mostly
in the western stretches of the country. The death toll from the
fires stands at 50.
Earlier, a shelter with some 1,800 animals near Moscow reported that
it had been threatened by fires and that one had approached within 150
meters (yards) before being extinguished. But shelter director Daria
Taraskina said late Thursday that there were no blazes nearby, though
concern remained high for the dogs, cats and retired circus animals
at the facility in Khoteichi, 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Moscow.
Thick smog that had blanketed Moscow partially lifted early Thursday
but could return with no end in sight to a record heat wave,
officials warned.
Temperatures up to 100 F (38 C) have exacerbated forest and peat bog
fires across Russia's central and western regions, destroying close
to 2,000 homes. Officials have suggested the 10,000 firefighters
battling the blazes aren't enough. The forecast for the week ahead
shows little change in the capital and surrounding regions, where
the average summer temperature is around 23 (75).
In the blaze-ravaged village of Plotava, 35 miles (60 kilometers) east
of Moscow, local official Viktor Sorokin lamented that the number of
fire wardens in woodland and peat bog areas had halved to 150 in the
last few years under new rules.
"There used to be more of them, now there aren't enough," he said.
Some locals are taking the initiative to make up the shortfall in
firefighters.
"We woke up several days ago and we couldn't breathe," said Alexander
Babayev, a 27-year-old owner of a drive-in theater, before taking a
hose to low rising flames flickering above the smoldering ground.
Babayev assembled a motley team of volunteers using a social networking
website and, after a few instructions from professionals, they began
tending to fires.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has promised to build new, better
homes before winter, and vowed each victim would receive $6,600 in
compensation. The sum is huge in a country whose average monthly
wage is around $800, and Russian media say some residents may have
deliberately torched their dwellings to qualify.
To the east, firefighters focused on beating flames back from a
top-secret nuclear research facility in the city of Sarov. A Sarov
news website on Thursday cited local officials as saying a wall of
fire had been broken down into several smaller blazes. On Wednesday,
officials said the closest blaze was still several miles (kilometers)
from the main facilities at the Russian Federal Nuclear Research
Center and as a precaution all hazardous materials had been evacuated.
In the capital, President Dmitry Medvedev fired several high-ranking
military officials Wednesday over what he called criminal negligence
in fires that ravaged a military base.
Russia has been sent helicopters and planes to help douse the flames
from Ukraine, Armenia, Italy, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, Emergencies
Minister Sergei Shoigu said in televised comments.
_____
Associated Press writers Mansur Mirovalev in Plotava, Khristina
Narizhnaya and David Nowak in Moscow and Anna Menichuk in Kiev,
Ukraine, contributed to this report.
From: A. Papazian