The 2022 Siberian wildfires were a series of

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

s in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

that began in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

in early May 2022. Fires were concentrated in the

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...

, Altai,

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

Kemerovo Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka River, Iskitimka and Tom ...

Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...

Kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...

regions,

Khakassia Khakassia (), officially the Republic of Khakassia, is a republic of Russia located in southern Siberia. It is situated between Krasnoyarsk Krai to the north and the Altai Republic to the south. The capital city of Khakassia is Abakan, and the ...

and Sakha republics.

Overview

Possible causes of fires are careless handling of fire during picnics on May holidays, short circuits of power lines and substations or fires of dry grass. Three employees of the power distributor Krasnoyarskenergo have been arrested and charged with manslaughter. As of 11 May, 1,298 buildings in 60 settlements burned down, including 200 homes, and at least 13 people died, including one child. In the city of

, the authorities had found that the fine particle concentrations in the air has exceeded levels considered hazardous to human health due to the smoke from wildfires. An

civil association account stated on Twitter that the governor of the region is busy holding pro-Putin festivals and there is no clear action from the regional Emergency Situations Ministry.

President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

urged authorities to take stronger actions to prevent further spread of wildfire. It is argued that they are uncontrolled due to resources diverted for the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. Smoke from the wildfires reached the western United States and worsened air quality on the coast of California.

Further fires in 2023

The total area of fires in 2023 was estimated at 5.2 million hectares. On 3 July 2023 a state of emergency was declared in Russia's far east. More than 110 forest fires were burning across 62,000 hectares.

References

{{2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 wildfires Wildfires in Russia 2022 disasters in Russia May 2022 in Russia Natural disasters in Siberia

Overview

Further fires in 2023

See also

References