WUNRN
RUSSIA - THE PAIN & TRAUMA OF
THE FEMALE FACE IN THE RAGING FIRES
Forest fires in central Russia have destroyed homes in villages south of Moscow. They are the result of a heatwave which has engulfed the region since June, killing people and devastating crops.
Moscow, July 29, 2010
RUSSIA
- RAGING FIRES DESTROY LIVES, FORCE EVACUATIONS
(AP)
Raging forest fires encircled a southern Russian city and
tore through provincial villages Thursday, forcing mass evacuations as Moscow
suffered through a record, weeks-long heat wave and smog cloud caused by
peat-bog fires.
Some 212,506 acres were burning nationwide, and flames all but encircled the
city of Voronezh, 300 miles southeast of Moscow. Forest fires on Moscow's
outskirts reached the city's western fringe, in the Krylatskoye district, but
were extinguished toward nightfall.
State television pictures showed the evacuation by ambulance of a Voronezh city
hospital. Channel One said more than 800 patients were transferred to other
facilities as flames approached the city's outskirts and thick smoke lowered
visibility. Hundreds of children were evacuated from at least seven summer
camps, according to the regional Emergencies Ministry website.
Distraught locals were shown next to their burning homes, with one elderly man
peering into the camera and asking “Where are we to live now?” Over his head,
plumes of thick black smoke sailed toward the city center. There, the few
locals on the streets were shown holding handkerchiefs to their mouths, and
stooping to cough.
Hundreds of homes in surrounding villages burned to the ground, the ministry
said. The Interfax news agency reported that the 340 homes were destroyed in a
village near Nizhny Novgorod, around 250 miles east of Moscow.
There were no reports of casualties.
Hot summers are usual even in Russia's more northern climes, where temperatures
routinely reach the mid-80s. But Moscow on Thursday broke its all-time
temperature record for the second time in a week.
The mercury hit 100 (37.8 Celsius) on Thursday, beating by a fraction a record
set on Monday, the country's news agencies reported.
Muscovites have been urged to skip work and stay indoors due to the heat and
potentially dangerous smog from peat bog fires outside the city, as the third
week of a protracted heat wave approached.
While the heat, which is relatively mild for the United States but highly
unusual in Northern Europe, was expected to ease in the coming days, the smog
from the peat bogs could be around for weeks, officials have said.
The Moscow region has thousands of acres of peat bogs - wetlands full of
decayed plant matter. When they are drained for agriculture and other purposes,
they can become a fire hazard.
When moisture is especially low, such as during heat waves, the peat, which is
high in carbon, is highly flammable and can ignite and smolder underground and
give off dangerous fumes.
Environmentalists said smog that blanketed Moscow in 2002 killed hundreds of
people.
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