Medvedev says Russia’s fire situation ’still tense’

MOSCOW - The number and extent of forest fires in Russia’s central European provinces showed signs of abating for the first time in weeks, but the situation was “still tense”, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday.

Vladimir Stepanov, head of Russia’s national crisis centre, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that the number of fires and the area of burning land had both fallen in the past 24 hours.

Medvedev Thursday cancelled a fire-related state of emergency in three of seven Russian provinces, including greater Moscow.

Fires in forested regions of Russia’s Bryansk province, a region affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power accident, have caused no increased radiation in the environment, and blazes in contaminated districts would be extinguished in a day, Stepanov said.

Across Russia, about 560 more fires in forests and peat bogs were burning Thursday, covering a total area of some 80,000 hectares - 10,000 hectares less than Wednesday, he said.

About 60 of the blazes had been designated “large fires” requiring extra effort to control.

Though government firefighting efforts appeared to be gaining ground, “the situation is still tense”, Medvedev said.

The wave of peat and forest blazes which started in late July in Russia’s western provinces represent the worst fires ever in the former Soviet republic. Damage to Russia’s economy caused by the blazes could exceed $30 billion.

Reports of fires not fully under control emerged Thursday, with a blaze in Russia’s central Ural region forcing the evacuation of villagers.

A village in Nizhny Novgorod, some 400 km east of Moscow, was on fire Thursday, but no injuries were reported.

Moscow, shrouded for most of the last week in thick smog from nearby forest fires, was breathing easier, with much of the smog dissipated and the number of fires near the capital a third lower than Wednesday.

Emergency response and military units began flooding peat bogs around Moscow Thursday, in an attempt to block the spread of fires in outlying rural districts to built-up regions.

Medvedev, called for increased fire protection for strategically important government facilities, and for the national prosecutor’s office to crack down on fire-related profiteering.

Fire, continuing drought, and record-breaking temperatures since July have devastated Russia’s grain fields and caused a 20-percent spike in the retail prices of bread, flour, and other basic food products, according to media reports.

For the first time since the early 1990s, Russia this year will become a net grain importer, with an expected harvest of some 60 million tonnes as compared to 97 million in 2009, according to industry estimates.

Russia’s annual grain consumption is around 70 million tonnes, according to government data.

Weather predictions for western Russia, the heart of the country’s agricultural sector, were pessimistic Thursday, with meteorologists warning of continued hot and dry conditions, high danger of fires and no rain in sight.