MOSCOW, August 24. / TASS /. The current 2021 in Russia may become a record in terms of the total area of forest fires since the beginning of the XXI century; during the current forest fire period, about 17.3 million hectares of forest have burned down. This was reported to TASS by the head of the forest program of the Russian branch of Greenpeace Alexei Yaroshenko.
“This year may become a record for the total area of forest fires in Russia since the beginning of the 21st century. The area covered by forest fires in Russia in 2021 (from the beginning of the year to the morning of August 24) is almost equal to the area covered by forest fires in the same period in 2012. “, – said Yaroshenko.
He noted that in 2012 the total area of forest fires was 17.5 million hectares, and the area of forest-covered lands covered by fires is slightly less – 11.2 million hectares (now it is 12.3 million hectares). “Now, as of August 24, there are more burns than in 2012, so it is very likely that by the end of the year 2021 will be the worst year since the beginning of the 21st century in terms of the area of forest fires,” said the head of the program.
Most of the area of forest fires this year falls on Yakutia. According to remote monitoring data, Yakutia accounts for more than 9 million 927 thousand hectares of forest fires out of the total area in Russia, which amounted to 17 million 313.4 thousand hectares.
The largest forest fire in Yakutia with an area of 1.67 million hectares (as of August 16 – the date of the last observation based on low-cloud images) is the largest known forest fire since the beginning of the 21st century in the world, the agency's source added.
“As far as we know, two large fires of about the same magnitude (1.5-2 million hectares) were noted in the last century in Canada in 1919 and 1950. More fires of this magnitude (namely, fires that formed a single area covered by fire) in history It has not been reliably recorded, however, reliable information on the areas of fires around the world has been available only since the beginning of this century, “the expert noted.
