Happy with fire

Forewarned, means ... disarmed

Forests in Transbaikalia began to burn not yesterday or a week ago, but almost in the middle of March. The State Forest Service of March 19 officially marked the beginning of the fire hazard season, and March 25 Governor Konstantin Ilkovsky has already introduced an emergency mode in the region, taught by the bitter experience of 2014, when the delay cost the regional authorities not only criticism from Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin, but also a dozen lives and the destruction of the whole village of Big Tour due to explosions.

This year, despite the introduction of the state of emergency, a week after the first fires, there were still dissatisfied among the federal leadership. This time, Rosleskhoz and its state contractor on fire suppression, Avialesokhran, rebelled.

"According to the information of the regional dispatching service of forestry of the Trans-Baikal Territory at the end of the day 23 March in the forest fund of the region 19 fires were registered in the area of ​​355 ha. Similar mid-five-year indicators have zero values, which is a sufficient reason for the introduction of the regime of emergencies in forests in accordance with the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 376 from 17 May 2011 year ... <...> The situation in the Trans-Baikal Territory is under constant control of the operational headquarters of Rosleskhoz. The Headquarters notes that the introduction of special regimes in the region, including the emergency regime for forest fire, in the region, the need to strengthen inter-agency cooperation in identifying the perpetrators of forest fires and their involvement in administrative and criminal liability, quoted conclusion of Rosleskhoz on the website of Avialesohran "a few days before Ilkovsky's decision on the introduction of the emergency regime.

At the same time, the state institution also clarified that by the middle of the week (March 25-26) air temperature is expected to rise in most parts of the region, in some areas to + 16 ° C, which will lead to an increase in the fire hazard class in the forests. A significant risk factor for the transition of fire to the forest and the growth of fire areas is the constant wind with gusts up to 20 m / s.

The Minister of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, Sergei Donskoy, went further and, in addition to commenting on the poor preparation of the region for a fire-dangerous season, Advised governor on the eve of the peak of a fire-dangerous season, check the professionalism of the head of the State Forest Service responsible for the forest of Ruslan Balagur.

Black Monday

Morning 13 of April. The area of ​​forest and steppe fires has increased from 1 thousand to 3 thousand hectares due to strong winds and dry weather. The fire began to approach the settlements, and somewhere at such a speed it spread to houses, that people sometimes did not have time to leave them. Especially everyone was shocked by the death of a three-year-old girl, burnt down in the car during the evacuation from the dacha cooperative near Chita.

Throughout the day, there were reports of more and more fire transitions to settlements and dacha cooperatives, especially in the Chita district, surrounding the regional center, where the fire mercilessly burned the villages one after another. The fire destroyed part of the street in the new neighborhood Good-quality village of Smolenko, a five-thousand-strong village near Chita, then its other districts burnt out - military camp No. XXUMX and the village Zabaykalets.

After the black for Transbaikal 13 April and the gray 14 April, it was time to collect the stones. The Emergency Commission, the regional government, the governor - all of a sudden realized that the situation is heating up, and joined in, attracting all possible resources, including federal ones, which were rejected in March, without introducing an emergency situation. In the region, hundreds began to be sent to airborne aircrafts, two Be-200 amphibious aircraft arrived, several other aircraft, and military personnel engaged in extinguishing. The situation managed to take control - the fires left the settlements.

Half a billion damage

15 April, when Chita, previously immersed in impenetrable clouds of smoke due to fires in the area, finally saw the sky and the sun, the regional authorities began to calculate the losses. It turned out that in two days 237 residential houses and 284 summer cottages in 17 settlements of 12 districts of the region completely burned out.

Naturally, for help in paying compensation, the regional authorities appealed to the government of the country, asking 460 million rubles for priority measures to combat the consequences of fires and preliminary 203 state housing certificates for citizens who lost their home.

I remembered about the Trans-Baikal fire victims and President Vladimir Putin straight line with the population. "All payments will be carried out within the framework of the law. This applies to the Trans-Baikal Territory. I will say that the victims are laid down by law. For 10 thousand rubles for each member of the family. A million rubles to families who died, 100 thousand rubles to those who lost their property, by 50 thousand rubles to those who have partially lost property. But as a rule, in Transbaikalia there is a complete loss. Burned everything. In the case of bodily injuries, 200 thousand rubles are laid, in case of severe damage - 400 thousand rubles, "the head of state explained.

While hundreds of Transbaikalians without a roof over their heads are clearing up the rubble, fires continue to rage in the region. Clear skies over Chita and the lack of reports with new victims can be misleading, but in fact the situation is still critical. Just fire went deep into the region, away from villages and cities. At the same time, the area of ​​fires has exceeded 100 thousand hectares for several days already - more than 30 times the area covered by fire on the ill-fated Monday 13 April, when hundreds of houses burned out. Over the weekend, the situation has improved slightly due to snowfalls in some areas, but not much.

Crime and nazakaniya

As was to be expected, the investigative bodies of the IC of the Russian Federation reacted to the situation with lightning speed by initiating 16 April six criminal cases in fact the mass destruction of homes as a result of fires. Criminal cases were initiated in five districts of the region under the Criminal Code article “Negligence resulting in major damage”, and in the Shilkinsky district, where two people died in a fire, the criminal case under the Criminal Code article “Negligence causing death of two or more people”. And the very next day, April 17, the result delayed head of the State Forest Service of the Ruslan Balagur region on suspicion of abuse of office. The press service of the department in this case does not hide, That, possibly, Balagura will be held to account for fires as well.

It is known that Balagur is a protege of Konstantin Ilkovsky. Perhaps, he will have to answer for his subordinate. In any case, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has already expressed On the topic of disciplinary responsibility for the unpreparedness for fires of the heads of regions.

"We need to consider the disciplinary responsibility of the heads of municipalities and regions for being unprepared for such events, for the consequences that come," Tass quoted Medvedev as saying, threatening the heads of the burnt regions.

This is also confirmed by the trial, during which the prosecutor's office proved, that the contractors for extinguishing fires in the Transbaikal are not equipped with technology, and obliged Rosleskhoz to finance the staffing of the park. But, according to the source, the case did not go well: the State Forest Service under Balagura did not wish to collect money from the Rosleskhoz in court.