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 emergency regime, a week after the first fires, there were still dissatisfied among the federal leadership. This time Rosleskhoz and its state contractor for extinguishing fires, Avialesokhrana, were outraged.

“According to the information of the regional forestry dispatch service of the Trans-Baikal Territory, at the end of the day on March 23, 19 fires were registered in the forest fund of the region on an area of ​​355 hectares. Similar average five-year indicators have zero values, which is a sufficient reason for introducing an emergency regime in forests in accordance with the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 376 of May 17, 2011 ... <...> The situation in the Trans-Baikal Territory is under constant control of the operational headquarters of Rosleskhoz. The headquarters notes the untimely introduction of special regimes in the region, including an emergency regime for a forest fire situation, the need to strengthen interagency cooperation in identifying the perpetrators of forest fires and bringing them to administrative and criminal liability, ”- quoted the conclusion of Rosleskhoz on the Avialesokhrana website a few days before Ilkovsky's decision to introduce an emergency regime.

At the same time, the state institution also clarified that by the middle of the week (March 25-26), an increase in air temperature is predicted in most of the region, in some areas - up to + 16 ° C, which will lead to an increase in the fire hazard class in forests. A significant risk factor for the transfer of fire to the forest and the growth of fire areas is a constant wind with gusts of 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 the Chita district surrounding the regional center, where the fire mercilessly burned out the villages one after another. The fire destroyed part of the street in the brand-new Dobrotny microdistrict of the five-thousandth settlement of Smolenka near Chita, then its other districts - military town No. 57 and the village of Zabaikalets - were burnt out.

After the black for Transbaikalia on April 13 and the gray on April 14, it was time to collect stones. The Emergency Situations Commission, the regional government, the governor - everyone suddenly realized that the situation was escalating and joined in it, attracting all possible resources, including federal ones, which they refused back in March without introducing an emergency regime. Hundreds of airborne troops began to move to the region, two Be-200 amphibious aircraft arrived, several other aircraft, and the military began to extinguish. The situation was brought under 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 made within the law. This also applies to the Trans-Baikal Territory. I will say that the victims are required by law. 10 thousand rubles for each family member. One million rubles to the families of the victims, 100 thousand rubles to those who lost their property, 50 thousand rubles each to those who partially lost their property. But as a rule, in Transbaikalia we are talking about a complete loss. Everything burned out. In case of bodily injury, 200 thousand rubles are due, in case of severe injuries - 400 thousand rubles, ”the head of state explained.

While hundreds of Transbaikal residents who have been left without a roof over their heads are clearing the rubble, fires continue to rage in the region. Clear skies over Chita and the lack of reports with new victims may be misleading, but in reality the situation is still critical. It's just that the fire went deep into the region, away from villages and cities. At the same time, the area of ​​fires for several days has been over 100 thousand hectares - this is more than 30 times more than the area of ​​the territory engulfed in fire on the ill-fated Monday April 13, when hundreds of houses were burnt out. Over the weekend, the situation improved slightly due to snowfall 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 on the fact of the massive destruction of houses as a result of fires. In five districts of the region, criminal cases were initiated under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Negligence resulting in major damage", and in the Shilkinsky region, where two people died as a result of the fire, a criminal case was initiated under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Negligence, resulting in the death of two or more people." And the very next day, April 17, the investigation 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 be responsible 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.

"It is necessary to consider the issue of disciplinary responsibility of the heads of municipalities and regions for being unprepared for such events, for the consequences that occur," Medvedev quoted TASS as saying, threatening the heads of the burning 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.