Fighting fires in the Nizhny Novgorod Region — firefighting activity in which the people participate and which is directed by the Nizhny Novgorod authorities.
This is one of the most important functions of society and the state, because fires are the most destructive type of natural disaster in the region.
The majority of large fires in the Nizhny Novgorod Region are anthropogenic in nature — that is, they arise as a result of conditions created by human actions, or by the criminal inaction of the relevant officials.
The Nature of the Phenomenon
During hot and dry summer seasons, fire danger rises sharply. The region has a network of fire stations under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, as well as units of the Aviation Forest Protection Service (Avialesookhrana).
Latest News
According to official data as of August 4, 2010, the death toll from fires in the Vyksunsky District reached 20 people. Several hundred homes were destroyed and more than a thousand people were left without shelter.
Across the region as a whole, 1,414 people in 12 districts were affected by fire, and 759 homes burned down.
Features of the Current Situation
The Nizhny Novgorod Region is characterized by a forested landscape, large numbers of peat bogs in the north and west, and predominantly wooden traditional construction in rural areas and small and medium-sized towns.
History
The core of the present-day population of the Nizhny Novgorod Region descends from the Mordva and the Mari — peoples who had a deeply respectful relationship with the forest. In their worldview, the forest was the foundation of the world; places of power were enormous trees, or trees growing in unusual locations or in unusual configurations (circles of birches, trees in karst sinkholes, as in Ichalkovskiy Bor). Naturally, in this cultural context fire was perceived as the materialization of evil forces — the supreme calamity, a catastrophe. At this stage the main cause of fire was a lightning strike hitting a tree or a wooden house, and people took great care in handling fire.
The situation changed with the arrival of Slavic colonists from the Dnieper basin into the Volga-Oka interfluve. Their method of farming — and of expansion — was slash-and-burn agriculture: they deliberately burned the forest, after which the ash-fertilized soil yielded record harvests for several years, while the local inhabitants were forced to abandon areas where they had conducted their forest-based way of life. In this context, fire for the colonists became a dangerous but deliberate act that led to increased prosperity, population growth, and the displacement of rivals. As a result, cultural attitudes toward fire became less clear-cut (the firebird).
Fire could destroy dwellings and kill people, so the fire safety of buildings was of paramount importance in construction. Structures that posed a higher fire risk were always placed separately, and as close to a water source as possible. Settlements were located near water, or ponds were dug within them from which water could be drawn in the event of a disaster.
The organization of firefighting was perhaps the earliest known example, in the pre-state period, of rapid collective community action; yet any serious fire was difficult to extinguish given the level of technology available at the time.
Fundamental changes in the organization of firefighting came with the introduction of new technology — motor vehicles and aircraft equipped with water tanks and pumps for directing and replenishing water supplies.
Organization
For the prevention of forest and peat fires, great importance attaches to spreading a culture of responsible stewardship of the forest, to legislation that clearly assigns liability to leaseholders of land plots and heads of local administrations and provides an unambiguous mechanism for punishing those individuals in proportion to the damage caused by fires. Regular clearing of firebreaks in forested areas and the maintenance of fire-prevention reservoirs and water sources is also of substantial importance. Such legislation is currently absent in the Russian Federation. The new Forest Code, adopted in 2007, does not in practice allow leaseholders to be held to meaningful account for failing to fulfill their obligations.
Effective firefighting presupposes the existence of fire stations equipped with modern equipment, specialist aviation, and a trained corps of forest rangers.
The organization of volunteer work is also important — and in certain cases decisive.
Interesting Facts
|
This was stated today by the Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region at a briefing in the Kremlin.
"I did not refuse help. That is an incorrect characterization," said Valery Shantsev. "I was the first of the governors to receive assistance from the Ministry of Defence," he added. We reproduce a passage from the official transcript of the meeting: "V.P. Shantsev: … The situation is difficult, Vladimir Vladimirovich, it is not easy. But it is under control. We are doing everything necessary to deal with what is happening today in the region, in the forests. I believe we will ensure the necessary safety of our settlements. V.V. Putin: Valery Pavlinovich, do you need any additional assistance from us in this situation? V.P. Shantsev: No, for now we are managing on our own. Fires are breaking out… In particular, the most difficult fire we are currently working on came to us from Ryazan Region at the border with Vyksunsky District. We had nearly contained it, and then it broke through in another location from Ryazan." |
|
|
|
Why are they lying about the casualties?
A friend's brother is fighting fires in Vyksunsky District. When the first three hundred homes burned down, they found 42 bodies in the village and around 30 in the forest. And that's just in one separate area!!!! So what are they telling us about 48 deaths across all of Russia??? Do they take us all for idiots? |
|
After the Fires
|
|
The somewhat weary officials decided to take a break and announced the opening of the hunting season. I cannot imagine what the governor felt when he signed that decree. To open a hunting season on those that did not burn to death in the inferno of the fires — it is sacrilege. The region's burned forests stretch for dozens of kilometers. Out there, the remnants of half-burned elk, wild boar, and bears are surely wandering in search of any food at all — and they have been declared open for hunting! Not a decree banning hunting for several years, not a decree establishing feeding stations and food reserves for animals — but a hunting decree. The animals face new disasters, and given who is signing the hunting decree, one might justifiably call these Shantsev's disasters. They will not survive without human help anyway — there is no food in the burned forests. Perhaps the idea is to finish them off so they don't suffer. Humanitarians. What comes next? What comes next is the good life. Not for everyone. Those who did not take part in the destruction of the Nizhny Novgorod forests will get nothing. For the rest: 300,000 hectares were burned — replanting costs 20,000 rubles per hectare under current norms, clearing the burned-out areas costs at least 30,000 rubles per hectare, and tending the new growth until it reaches ten years of age costs another 20,000 rubles per hectare. That's a minimum of twenty-one billion rubles of public money. Who could dream of such a windfall! And there's a bonus on top: until next June you can haul away charred commercial timber that has not lost any of its value as a material, free of charge. And no one will ever know.
They say VVP is coming back to the region soon. One very much hopes it's not for the hunting. A former forest ranger (otherwise the "hunters" will shoot you)
|
|