In several regions of Ukraine on May 8, fires with a total area of more than 2 thousand hectares are being extinguished. This was reported by the State Emergency Service.
In particular, in the Zhytomyr region, the elimination of a large-scale forest fire in the Polesie Nature Reserve continues. The estimated area of the fire is 500 hectares. Strong winds and high air temperatures contribute to the rapid spread of fire. The situation is complicated by the fact that some of the territories are mined, as a result of which rescuers cannot fully work in certain areas. When extinguishing, UAVs and robotic equipment are used.
In the border areas of the Chernigov region, a fire of forest litter with an estimated area of 1200 hectares continues. Due to the proximity to the border, chaotic mining of the territories and the threat of Russian shelling, the involvement of equipment and personnel of the State Emergency Service is not yet possible. Forestry workers create mineralized strips to prevent the fire from spreading.
In the exclusion zone in the Kyiv region, the elimination of a forest floor fire continues. The fire has now covered 1,180 hectares. The spread of fire is facilitated by dry weather and sharp gusts of wind.
In the Sarnensky district of the Rivne region, a forest fire covering an area of 90 hectares was localized. Later, the State Emergency Service reported that it had been completely extinguished. The fire engulfed approximately 90 hectares of the territory of the Klesovsky forestry, the Rivne nature reserve and the Selyansky Forest SFK.
In addition, a large fire in the Carpathians has been completely extinguished, the state enterprise Forests of Ukraine reports. For more than a day, foresters and rescuers fought a mountain forest fire near the village of Volovets. Hundreds of people and dozens of pieces of equipment were involved in the fire. For monitoring, representatives of the State Emergency Service used aircraft and drones. The area covered by fire is 65.2 hectares.
In total, over the past 24 hours, foresters managed to extinguish 21 forest fires covering an area of more than 102 hectares. Most forest fires were extinguished in Zhytomyr (six), Transcarpathian (five), Kharkov (three), Ivano-Frankivsk (two) regions, as well as one each in Sumy and Lviv regions.
Russians set fire
“Forests of Ukraine” stated that large-scale fires in forest areas on the border with the aggressor country Russia arose due to enemy shelling.
“Confirmation that the enemy is deliberately setting forests on fire are attacks on the observation masts of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”! More than 400 such masts with a video surveillance system have been installed by the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”. This year it is planned to install 30 more in order to cover all our coniferous tracts with constant monitoring. But the Russian Federation is trying to “blind” the fire brigades of the forest guard, to deprive us of the ability to quickly respond to fires,” – the message says.
The state-owned enterprise is now monitoring the situation in forest areas using drones.
The Ukrainian State Agency for Management of the Exclusion Zone reported that the fire in the zone began on May 7 as a result of an attack by two Russian Geran-2 type drones. The safe remains of two UAVs were found at the fire site. The estimated area of the fire already exceeds 1,100 hectares. The situation is further complicated by dry weather and the danger of mines in certain areas of the territory. Due to the risk of detonation of explosive objects in some forest areas, work is temporarily impossible.
Arsons can turn against the Russians themselves, – according to “Forests of Ukraine”, a huge forest fire on the border of the Chernigov region turned towards the aggressor country of the Russian Federation. Over the past day, the area of the fire has almost doubled. According to the latest data, the fire has already covered almost 4.3 thousand hectares.
The fire occurred as a result of massive shelling from Russia, the report said. Extinguishing is almost impossible – the equipment is destroyed by drones that hunt everything that moves. However, forest protection prevents the fire from spreading to forest areas deep in Ukrainian territory.
“Fortunately, the fire front turned north and began to move towards the Russian Federation. The Russians themselves fell into the fire trap that they had prepared for the Ukrainian forest,” the message says.
