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Baikal on fire - 'it feels like doomsday'

By The Siberian Times reporter

23 August 2015

Pristine forests around the world's oldest lake go up in flames.

Baikal inferno. Picture: Chono Erdenebayar

These unnerving images show the scale of destruction from wildfires close to Lake Baikal, the jewel of Siberia. The sky is aglow over the Republic of Buryatia from the uncontrolled burning, the latest outbreaks of fires that have been destroying forests around the world's oldest and deepest lake for a number of weeks.

Locals and tourists could only gaze from beaches beside the lake at the impressive but disturbing images from the flames and smoke.

The shocking scenes came amid a warning from a senior politician that wildfires now pose the greatest threat to the lake, on the UNESCO World Heritage List, which contains 20% of the unfrozen freshwater on the planet.

Mikhail Slipenchuk, deputy head of the Russian parliament's committee on natural resources and ecology, said: 'Fires near the lake's shores actually kill the water arteries, thus damaging the water balance in the lake'.

Baikal on fire - 'it feels like doomsday'

Baikal on fire - 'it feels like doomsday'
Pictures from around town of Gremyachinsk, and maps of wildfires around lake Baikal. Pictures: Chono Erdenebayar, Andrey Razyvayev

Some 36 fires are burning over an area of 77,000 hectares, after a hot summer with a lack of rainfall, it was reported.

These pictures were taken by Chono Erdenebayar close to Gremyachinsk, on the shore of Lake Baikal, some 138 km south from Ulan-Ude.

'It feels like doomsday', said one eyewitness.

On the lake's eastern shore, the area is famed for its sunny bays and sandy beaches.

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Humans should of course alter nature, but it is folly to think that we can control every aspect of nature, some parts of which probably should remain wild. We can not stop the lightning, and during a drought when 100s of wildfires are burning, there simply isn't the resources to fight them all. Why not leave some fires remote enough from where people live, to burn unchecked and leave them to nature to manage? We should let more forest fires just burn wild, so as to stop wasting taxpayer money needlessly. Nature needs no help to be natural or wild. Nature needs some help to support more people, and people should multiply naturally without birth control. As more places become populated, then it makes more sense to fight fires to protect human interests.

Fire is natural, but we should not allow the NWO or corrupt governments to contribute to the problem with anti-development bad policies, or chem-trails or whatever evil schemes that they are up to.

Pronatalist, The United Slaves of America

18/04/2016 00:54

Plus this huge fire and others generates huge amounts of carbon dioxide, plus soot that darkens any ice or snow and accelerates its melting - very scary positive feedback loops

dlweld, victoria canada

29/09/2015 09:02

I think that is was made by people for selfish purposes, and nothing else.

Tatyana, Ulan-Ude, Russia

29/08/2015 22:07

It's climate change (global warming) in action. Unless we stop using all fossil fuels as soon as possible, this and worse will be common in the future.

It could get a lot worse. If we continue on the path we're on, this is just a tiny preview of what is coming.

Leland Palmer, Santa Rosa, California, U.S.A.

25/08/2015 22:10

Trying to extinguish those fires is almost impossible and risks or claims many firefighters' lives. With all our technology to date, isn't there a way to apply preventive measures before those fires start? We can tell from the rising summer heat that these fires are going to be a real danger. Instead of vainly pouring thousands of gallons of water on burning forests, can't we do it beforehand, or use some sort of biodegradable retardant to spray on the trees? For sure, someone has the know-how to do this without damaging the earth and forests? Just a thought... Am no specialist or scientist, but this year, the planet has really sent us some very strong messages.

Nadine, Morocco

25/08/2015 03:48

This is so sad and heartbreaking. Forests around the world are suffering such a fate and sometimes it cannot be stopped because of the lightening strikes hitting on such a dry patch of grass or tree branch from weeks or months of no rain. Sometimes, humans cause such disasters as this, which is why the world community must always be vigilant. We need to enact measures to contain and stop these forests fires with funding set aside specifically to this purpose. Every country should take this measure because one country's forest is as necessary to the rest of the world's forests because of migration routes used by all flight creatures whether insect or birds. We need those forests and so do the animals that are sustained by them. Such beauty lost. I hope God sends rains badly needed to all parts of the world desperately in need now. God Bless All Our Lands. Amen.

Sincerely,
Norma Iris Montalvo (b. 1955)

Norma Iris Montalvo (b. 1955), OK, USA

24/08/2015 06:04