Yahoo News 23 May 11;
MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia is battling wildfires spreading across Siberia and the Far East, with officials scrambling to prevent a disastrous repeat of last year's deadly blazes, the emergencies ministry said on Monday.
More than 400 wildfires covering over 110,000 hectares of forests and peat bogs have been registered in the country in the last 24 hours, the emergencies ministry said.
Overall, since the start of the year the ministry has recorded more than 8,500 wildfires covering over 290,000 hectares, nearly twice as much territory compared to the same period last year.
Russia endured the worst heatwave in its recorded history last year. A record drought wiped out the harvest and wildfires spread out of control, killing dozens, burning down thousands of houses and threatening military and nuclear installations.
The 2010 fires left Moscow shrouded in smoke for several weeks, forcing people to leave the capital in droves and causing mortality rates in the city to double.
Environmental campaigners Greenpeace warned earlier this month that Russia could again choke in catastrophic wildfires this summer because of the authorities' slow response to the growing threat.
Alexei Yaroshenko, head of Greenpeace Russia's forest programme, said the forest fires had started earlier this year and were more dangerous.
Last month, President Dmitry Medvedev warned Russian officials they would be sent to personally douse the blazes if they failed to prevent fires this year.
The European part of Russia, including Moscow, remains largely unaffected so far.
Forest Fires Rage In Russia's Far East, Siberia
Vladimir Soldatkin PlanetArk 23 May 11;
Fires are spreading fast across vast Siberian forests in a reminder of last year's worst drought on record which killed dozens of people and forced Russia to suspend grain exports.
The Emergency Ministry said on Sunday on its web site www.mchs.gov.ru that around 100,000 hectares of forestry was caught up in fires, mainly in the Far East as well as in the oil-rich Siberian province of Khanty-Mansiysk and nearby areas.
The European part of Russia, the country's agricultural hinterland, remained largely unaffected but the authorities say the situation may worsen as dry weather persists.
During a record heatwave last summer, Russian authorities struggled to contain peat and forest fires that destroyed a quarter of the country's crops, killed dozens of people and engulfed Moscow in a cloud of hazardous acrid smoke.
Hundreds are thought to have died from the scorching heat last year, but Russia's top forecaster has said he did not expect the extreme drought to be repeated this year.
Last month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered officials to prevent a repeat of last year's devastating wildfires as environmentalists warned of another disaster.
Estimates for the European Union's wheat harvest are shrinking by the day, with analysts cutting crop forecasts again last week as plants wilted in a months-long drought that looks set to continue for a while.
Russia's official forecast for this year's crop is 85-90 million tonnes compared to some 61 million tonnes in 2010, 97 million in 2009 and 108 million in 2008.
(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
