More than 45% of forest fires in Tatarstan happens on the May holidays

Citizens are urged to be careful and abide by the rules of fire safety.

(KZN.RU, April 23, Ksenia Shvetsova). More than 45% of forest fires in Tatarstan happens in suburban areas in May. This is due to the beginning of the summer season, as well as long holidays, which citizens often spend outside. The carelessness of the population becomes the cause of 90% of fire cases, said Ravil Kuzyurov, the minister of Forestry of the RT, at the briefing in the Cabinet of Ministers of the RT.

The increased fire danger in the forests is created by the presence of a network of roads and railways, high-voltage power lines and other communications. The particular danger arises in the suburban areas of large industrial cities, such as Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny, Nizhnekamsk, Almetyevsk, and others.

Based on an analysis of the number of fires in the republic that took place from 2002 to 2010, experts identified an average number of fires: about 54 fires, which resulted in a territory of 58 hectares being burned out. “The main cause of fires is non-compliance with safety rules. In the spring, the cause is often the burning of grass and garbage. 82 out of the 100 fire cases are caused by the burning of dry grass when due to lack of control, the fire goes to the forests”, said R. Kuzyurov. He added that the increased risk of fire decreases no earlier than October.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 1380 forest fires have occurred in different regions of Russia. More than 3 hectares of forest have burnt out, and a special fire protection regime has started in 20 regions. In Tatarstan, it is introduced from April 25.

All equipment is brought to full readiness for the timely fight against forest fires in Tatarstan, said the speaker. In total, there are 23 chemical firefighting stations and 13 points for firefighting equipment in the republic.

“Space monitoring is underway in the forest. All information goes to the regional dispatch office, which operates around-the-clock. Aviation patrol routes were laid. The inspectors and fire engines will be on duty in places of mass recreation of citizens along the federal and regional roads adjacent to the forest estate. They work throughout the year, and on May holidays they switch to around-the-clock mode”, said the minister of Forestry of the RT.

State forest inspectors conduct monitoring to identify violators who are threatened with considerable fines. R.Kuzyurov reminded that a fine of up to 3000 rubles is provided for citizens, up to 20000 rubles for officials, and up to 200000 rubles for legal entities. If the violation occurred during the period of a special fire prevention regime, the fines increase. It is from 4 to 5 thousand rubles for citizens, from 20 to 40 thousand for officials and from 300 to 500 thousand rubles for legal entities. If the violator caused a fire and damage to the forest fund, then he would face criminal liability.

This year, it is planned to grow 30 million 800 thousand pieces of planting material in forest nurseries in Tatarstan, said R. Kuzyurov.

Citizens can call the forest guard number to report all the facts of fires in the forest or violations related to fire safety: 8-800-100-94-00.