The leaders of the Siberian region declared Friday a non-working day and urged residents to stay at home because the smoke from the raging forest fires caused health problems.
Aisen Nikolayev, the leader of Yakutia, Russia’s largest and coldest region Hit hard by wildfires this year, Said on Thursday that the rest day will apply to the regional capital Yakutsk and several other regions.
In recent years, wildfires have swept across Russia’s vast territory on an unprecedented scale. Experts blame it on climate change, negligence, and insufficient funding for forestry management services.
In a speech delivered by RIA Novosti, Nikolaev said: “The smoke from the fire has an extremely negative impact on people’s well-being. In order to minimize these consequences today, I signed a decree declaring 11 The city is a non-working day.” Nikolaev suggested that residents spend the day at home.
There were delays at Yakutsk Airport on Thursday, and flights were cancelled or postponed due to low visibility caused by smoke.
President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, This week ordered reinforcements to extinguish the fires in Siberia, and sent the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations to Yakutia to oversee operations there.
According to data from the Russian Forestry Agency, the fires have burned more than 9.2 million hectares (22.7 million acres) of land in this vast and sparsely populated area, an area equivalent to the size of Portugal.
Local firefighters told AFP that they lack the personnel, equipment and resources to deal with the scale of the wildfire.
Critics pointed out that a 2015 law allowed districts to ignore fires if the cost of fighting fires exceeded expected losses, and said the legislation provided the authorities with cover to avoid extinguishing wildfires.
NASA NASA Said its satellite images showed wildfires over the weekend Smoke from Yakutia moves towards the North Pole, Can be called the first in history.
