In the village of Pervomaisky, Sverdlovsk Region, a fire destroyed two warehouses with gunpowder with a total area of 960 square meters. m. In the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs, the cause was called forest fires. The federal Avialesookhrana denied this information, saying that the fire, on the contrary, moved towards the trees from the warehouses. Rescuers urgently evacuated about 400 people from Pervomaisky. The police blocked the entrance to the village. A firefighter was injured as a result of the fire.
A message about a fire in the Sverdlovsk village of Pervomaisky was received by the duty unit of the Ministry of Emergency Situations at half past ten in the evening. The fire broke out in the warehouses with gunpowder, which belong to the arms company Gefest-M. Each of them holds up to 20 tons of gunpowder. About 50 rescuers and 14 units of special equipment are involved in extinguishing.
“According to one of the versions worked out by the police, the emergency could have occurred due to sharp gusts of wind reaching up to 27 meters per second, due to which the upper forest fire could spread to the warehouses,” the head of the press service of the regional head office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Kommersant Valery Gorelykh. The federal Avialesookhrana denied this information. “On the contrary, the fire moved towards the trees from the warehouses, which was recorded by the Forest Watch video surveillance system,” the institution said.
The head of the Rezhevsky urban district, Ivan Kartashov, from 23:30 on May 6, introduced an emergency regime on the territory of the municipality and announced the start of the evacuation of citizens. “Temporary accommodation centers accept people. The removal of people by buses and personal transport has been organized,” Mr. Kartashov wrote on his VKontakte page. Seven traffic police crews assisted in the evacuation of the population.
“Representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the municipality and colleagues from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, carried out an emergency evacuation of residents of 15 residential buildings with a total number of about 400 people, of which 32, including eight children, are located in two temporary accommodation centers in the city of Rezh. The road where the fire element rages is blocked. Round-the-clock police squads have been deployed in the village to ensure law and order and prevent possible facts of looting,” said Valery Gorelykh.
A fire department worker was injured in the blaze, he said. With a preliminary diagnosis of carbon monoxide poisoning, he was taken to the city hospital. There was no information about the dead. No damage or damage to the property of citizens by fire was recorded, Colonel Gorelykh assured.
At 12:20, the press service of the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that the fire in the village was localized. The fire destroyed two warehouses with a total area of 960 sq. m, rescuers shed separate hotbeds of burning dry vegetation on an area of 20 hectares.
To date, the situation with forest fires in the Sverdlovsk region is the most difficult in Russia.
The information policy department of the region reported that by May 7, there were 53 forest fires in the region, more than 33 thousand hectares of forest were covered by fire. The number of firefighters has been increased to 2.5 thousand people, almost 500 units of special equipment are involved in extinguishing, including helicopters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Defense, Il-76 and Be-200 aircraft. Two MI-8 helicopters were deployed from the Sever interregional forest patrol center in Krasnoyarsk to the Sverdlovsk Region.
“Large fires continue in the Artemovsky and Talitsky districts – more than 4 thousand hectares of forest are burning. In the Tugulymsky district – three fires with a total area of almost 5 thousand hectares. Fires are also recorded in Berezovsky, Verkhotursky, Sosvinsky districts, on the territory of Verkhnyaya Pyshma,” the information policy department said.
During the day on May 6, 15 fires were localized. 8 fires on an area of 759 hectares were completely eliminated. “Measures are being taken to contain four natural fires in the Asbestovsky urban district. The area of fires is 7.2 thousand hectares. A group of 136 people and 12 units of special equipment was involved in extinguishing the fire and protecting settlements,” the press service of the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations reported.
Since May 5, a state of emergency has been introduced in the forests of the region. Since May 6, visits to forest parks have been banned. Until May 10, the spring hunting season has been suspended in the region. According to the regional Ministry of Natural Resources, most fires are caused by careless or careless attitudes to fire, as well as warm weather and strong winds.
The governor of the Sverdlovsk region called the situation with the fires in the region critical and said that the region had requested federal assistance to fight them. “Before the holidays, we asked the residents not to go to the forest, not to kindle fires, to relax in a different way. Only the first day of the May holidays has passed, and the whole region is already on fire. People have nothing to breathe, they lose their homes. And they’re grilling kebabs. Fine. If they don’t understand the request in a good way, we will talk in a bad way,” Mr. Kuyvashev said, threatening violators with fines of up to 2 million rubles.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Sverdlovsk region announced a storm warning for May 7. “In some places in the region, winds with gusts of up to 20 m/s are expected, as well as an emergency fire hazard in the forests. It is recommended to follow the rules of safe behavior in conditions of abnormally hot weather. It’s best to stay at home. During the day it is better to keep the windows closed, especially if they face the sunny side,” the department said. According to the Ural Hydrometeorological Center, on May 7, it is expected to reach +16°С in the region, up to +26°С in the southeast, cloudy with clearings, light rain in some places, and moderate rain in the southwest during the day.
