Over 30 hectares of forest in Ukraine have been burnt down in week due to Russian shelling. PHOTO
Over the past week, 48 fires broke out in the forest lands managed by the state-owned enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’, affecting 34.6 hectares. Of these, 30.1 hectares – or 87 per cent of the total area affected by the fires – were caused by Russian shelling.
This was reported by Censor.NET, citing the state-owned enterprise "Forests of Ukraine".
According to the organisation, the vast majority of the fires were caused by falling debris from Russian drones and missiles.
The highest number of fires was recorded in the Kyiv region – 15 fires covering an area of 9.35 hectares. In the Sumy region, the fire engulfed 8.1 hectares of forest, and in the Odesa region – 4.8 hectares.
Isolated cases of fires resulting from enemy attacks were also recorded in seven other regions.
Meanwhile, fires caused by careless handling of fire and other reasons broke out in Volyn, Rivne, Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Kharkiv regions.
In the Sumy region, foresters spent almost a day extinguishing a fire whilst under threat from FPV drone attacks
The most challenging operation was extinguishing a fire covering 7.6 hectares in the Zemlyaniv Forest District of Sumy Oblast.
Twelve forest rangers, a tractor and a fire engine were deployed to tackle the blaze.
The battle against the fire lasted almost a day. Due to the constant threat of shelling and attacks by Russian drones, in particular FPV drones, foresters were forced to interrupt their firefighting efforts and take shelter.
In other instances, the fires were contained within 30–40 minutes on average. The average area affected by a single fire was 0.8 hectares.
An extreme fire risk persists in a number of regions
The State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" has warned that an extreme fire risk will persist in the coming days in the eastern and southern regions, as well as in parts of the central and northern regions.
Citizens have been urged to refrain from visiting forests due to the high risk of fires and the threat of further Russian attacks.
