In the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug, the situation with forest fires is out of control. The taiga is burning, and the head of the territory, Natalia Komarova, is unable or unwilling to take action, claiming that the heat and “dry thunderstorms” are to blame.
In Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Rospotrebnadzor announced a multiple excess of carbon monoxide content. The area of forest fires is growing in the region, besides, a state of emergency has been operating in the region for a week now.
A correspondent of The Moscow Post in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug investigated what was happening.
Merciless fire
On August 2, Yugra Governor Natalia Komarova signed a decree on the introduction of a state of emergency in the region due to for forest fires. The most interesting thing is that on July 22 the state of emergency was already introduced in the district, however, a week later, it was canceled due to the supposedly normal situation with fires.
Rospotrebnadzor reported exceeding the maximum permissible concentrations of carbon monoxide in Beloyarsky. An increased content of harmful substances was also found in the atmosphere of the village of Nyagan.
All this time, the governor of Yugra, Natalya Komarova, did not comment on the situation in any way, only on August 8 naming the causes of the outbreak and spread of large-scale forest fires in the region. According to her, abnormally high air temperatures, lack of precipitation, as well as strong gusts of wind and “dry” thunderstorms are to blame.
Currently, 65 hotbeds of natural fires on an area of 84,082 hectares continue to operate in the region. However, Greenpeace believes that the area of forest fires in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug could be three times larger than the authorities say. In their opinion, “the situation is clearly out of control”, and according to biologists, it will take from 75 to 90 years to restore the ecosystem in the burning forests of Yugra.
Official anomalies
Public activists do not agree that it is only a matter of natural phenomena. Thus, Yugorsk Duma Deputy Anton Pantin created a petition demanding the resignation of Yugra Governor Natalia Komarova. In his opinion, the whole point is in the inconsistent actions of the regional authorities.
Pantin emphasizes that while the head of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug introduced and canceled emergency situations, time has passed that could have been spent fighting fire.
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He also recalled that it was Komarova, being a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, who was directly involved in the development of the Forest Code of the Russian Federation, after which the forest protection and fire prevention services were reorganized.
“While Yugra is burning with a blue flame, nature reserves are being destroyed and people are suffocating from the increased concentration of harmful substances in the air – Natalya Vladimirovna allows herself to have fun: dancing at the youth forum and erecting monuments to the bump … “says Anton Pantin.</p
The petition has so far been signed by 780 people. The deputy believes that this will help draw public attention to the case of fires.
Photo: change.org
Meanwhile, the negative background around the head of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, Natalya Komarova, is thickening along with smoke from forest fires in the Okrug.
Yugra during the reign of Komarova is in decline and it's not just about blazing green areas. The population has a lot of questions for their governor: these are long-term construction of social institutions, corruption, interethnic conflicts, tense relations with the governors of the “Tyumen matryoshka” …
“Holes” in the structures
The situation with fires demonstrates not only the helplessness and inaction of the official who heads Ugra, but also the problems of the state fire service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Earlier, The Moscow Post wrote that employees of the State Fire Service Academy are constantly subjected to pressure, creating unbearable conditions for service. According to the stories of the Academy's employees, each department/service/faculty that is subordinate to the deputy head of the university wages war against another department/service/faculty.
Because of this, in the leading university of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in a very short time a huge number of professors and teachers quit. And the officers are trying to escape to any unit, just to be outside the Academy.
New employees will soon not be able to fully transfer such valuable experience as extinguishing fires, eliminating emergencies, protecting strategic facilities, providing fire supervision, investigating the causes of fires, etc.
While the academy is falling apart due to the forest on Russian territories continue to burn and people are needed to extinguish them.
Money is not a problem?
Huge amounts of money are spent on extinguishing fires. In 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to allocate an additional 8 billion rubles to the regions annually to protect forests from fires.
Meanwhile, the fire that is now blazing in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug forced the authorities of the region to open the reserve fund. More than 121 million rubles were allocated for the lease of three helicopters.
“The Department of Subsoil Use and Natural Resources has been approved budget allocations from the reserve fund of the Government of the Autonomous Okrug in the amount of 121,592.4 thousand rubles for the conclusion of lease agreements for Mi-8, Mi-8 AMT and Mi-26T helicopters to extinguish forest fires, as well as for payment work for workers involved in extinguishing forest fires,” the text of the document reads.
Each season, cities submit a report on their readiness for the fire season, billions are allocated. However, this has almost no effect on the final result.
As for the governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Natalya Komarova, they say. That she will be able to “escape” to the RANEPA from fires and other problems of the region.
Natalya Komarova. Photo: ugra-news.ru</p
However, Pavel Manchenko, President of the Regional Policy Foundation, Ph.D. In addition, he is sure that there are no real prerequisites for Komarova to leave the chair of the governor.
I would like to believe that Natalya Vladimirovna will take into account the mistakes of this year and the region will conduct an honest review of the implementation of primary fire safety measures in preparation for a fire hazard season 2023. Because now the situation with fires proves that the KhMAO was not prepared for a fire hazard period.
In addition, in many parts of the region there are simply no fire reservoirs, hydrants and other infrastructure. The authorities can think about all this now, in order to prevent a large-scale catastrophe again later.