Wildfires add to coronavirus misery across nine Siberian regions and republics

Raging wildfires are seen as most serious in the regions of Kemerovo,  Novosibirsk, Altai and TransBaikal as well as Altai Republic, as shown in videos. 

But more were ablaze in Tomsk, Omsk, and Krasnoyarsk regions as well as Khakassia republic.

Russia is battling coronavirus, like the rest of the world, but now these large areas  are hit by infernos with worse to come, according to experts.

In Kemerovo, 27 houses were destroyed in Postnikovo village, Izhmorsky district, due to the spread of the wildfire. 

The fire began from the side of a road 400 metres from the village. 

In Kemerovo, 27 houses were destroyed in Postnikovo village, Izhmorsky district, due to the spread of the wildfire. Pictures: EMERCOM

Strong winds blew it towards Postnikovo.

All 39 residents, including a dozen children, evacuated without harm. 

Fire also hit Krasninskoye village in Promyshlennovsky district. Two houses burned down, in which six people lived. All survived.

Four residential and two non-residential buildings burned down in Pashkovo, Yashkinsky district.

In Novosibirsk region, 50 summer houses were burned down.

Wildfires in Novosibirsk region. Picture: The Siberian Times

Steppe wildfires have raged since 20 April when locals started burning dry grass on farmland which soon caught forest.

On 23 April the fires came close to Novosibirsk city and smoke fumes are still polluting Siberia’s largest city. 

Thick smoke caused a multiple pile up of cars, with a pregnant woman injured.

Some two million hectares was destroyed, exceeding last year’s total eight times.

In total, three people were injured due to this week’s fire. 

WILDFIRES RAGE IN NOVOSIBIRSK REGION, KEMEROVO REGION AND TRANS-BAIKAL REGION

In Altai Republic fire cut off people gathering pine nuts on a mountainside. A helicopter was sent to rescue 11 of them, and a total of 36 were evacuated.

In Altai region fires were burning near roads. 

The capital of TransBaikal, Chita, was clouded with smoke from fires raging near the city. 

Space monitoring showed fires covering more than 7,000 hectares in the area of Lake Arakhlei . People also share the videos from that area. 

By 23 April, ten forest fires were registered covering 10,000 hectares of state forestry resources.

Four villages are in dangers from the spreading flames 4 with Tankha the worst-hit.

Wildfires in the Trans-Baikal region. Pictures: social media

Elena Alexandrova, Chita inter district environmental prosecutor, told Zab.ru: ‘I can only say that this smoke that came to our city is from large forest fires that ablaze in the Chita district.’

Updates on the scaler of the fires was coming every three hours. 

Greenpeace said the ‘massive forest and steppe fires’ also hit other regions - Tomsk, Omsk,  Khakassia, and Krasnoyarsk.

‘All these fires occur due to human fault,’ said a report from the environmental organisation.

‘So far no fire has been recorded that has arisen for any natural reason. 

‘As a rule, fires begin with dry grass… which the wind carries over open spaces over large areas. 

‘Fire spreads from grass to forests, peatlands, buildings and houses.

‘More often than not, people set fire to grass through negligence, for example, by throwing unsupervised cigarette butts. 

‘In addition, arson often occurs from burning dry grass in spring or just hooliganism.’

Pictures below show wildfires in the Republic of Altai and the Altai region