In Yakutia, ferry and air services were suspended due to forest fires. Smoke enveloped more than 50 settlements

In Yakutia, due to forest fires, air traffic and the movement of ferries have been suspended, informs press office of the local airport.

“Due to meteorological conditions, due to lack of visibility, both arrival and departure flights have been delayed. The airport cannot receive and send flights until the weather conditions improve, ”the message says.

According to the Yakutsk Department of Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, smoke is currently recorded in 18 districts of the republic. Smoke from forest fires covered 51 settlements. Gorny, Suntarsky, Olekminsky, Lensky, Mirninsky, Tomponsky, Namsky and Khangalassky districts got into the smoke zone.

The regional operational headquarters classified fires in five districts of Yakutia at the level of the fifth fire hazard class, in another five – at the level of the fourth, which is considered as a high and extremely high level of danger. In total, 233 wildfires have been recorded in the region to date.

At the same time, the movement of ferries and ships was temporarily suspended on the Lena River in the Yakutsk region.

“The movement of small vessels, high-speed vessels and ferries on the crossings Yakutsk – Nizhny Bestyakh, Kangalassy – Sottintsy and Mokhsogollokh – Kachikatsy is temporarily suspended until the situation improves”, – it says in the message posted on the website of the regional government.

Fires in Yakutia began in June due to dry and hot weather. During this time, more than a million hectares of forest burned down on the territory of the republic.

“Firefighters have been moving from region to region within two months, and the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s aviation dumped about 4.5 thousand tons of water in order to minimize the consequences of the fire element and prevent tragic consequences. At the moment, the situation is gradually stabilizing, ”the Russian Emergencies Ministry reported.

In July, local activists asked Hollywood actor and conservation fund founder Leonardo DiCaprio to help deal with the fires: “Siberia is dying now. All Siberia hopes for your help. ” The actor, in response, promised to help and talk with the Yakut authorities. To this, the local authorities asked him not to meddle in their problems. Deputy Minister of Ecology of Yakutia Sergey Sivtsev noted that the attention of famous people to such problems is encouraging, but they will cope on their own.

“New Newspaper” wrotethat schoolchildren were involved in fighting the fire, although the local authorities denied this fact. A video recorded by eyewitnesses appeared on social networks, where high school students in camouflage uniforms and with knapsack extinguishers behind their backs comment on the situation against the backdrop of a burnt forest.

On June 7, at a meeting of the government of Yakutia, the prime minister of the region, Andrei Tarasenko, said that some forces were shamans “against us”, directing precipitation in the wrong direction, and it was necessary “to return to the folk method and find a shaman who will make it rain.” June 9, candidate of historical sciences, ethnologist Lyudmila Egorova stated that the Yakut shamans began kamlata against the fire.

In early June, the head of the Ministry of Nature Alexander Kozlov appealed to the General Prosecutor’s Office due to the fact that data on forest fires had been underestimated in Yakutia and the Irkutsk region. The letter spoke of the need to pay attention to “the issues of unreliability of the reflection of the forest fire situation in the official reporting of the two regions and, accordingly, the inadequacy of measures and management decisions taken on its basis to prevent the occurrence and extinguish large forest fires.”