Such a danger of fires is for the first time within 50 years in Ukraine! In connection with this all officials, including President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, are recalled from leave urgently. On Thursday an extraordinary meeting of the RNBOU (National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine) was held, chaired by the Head of State, with the goal to develop measures to prevent an emergency involving fires and adverse weather conditions in the country.

Meanwhile, the most dangerous places are hot spots near Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv, the newspaper Segodnya reports. In this regard at the RNBOU meeting President demanded from the Defense Minister and head of the Kharkivska region to take ammunition depots and other dangerous objects under protection, in particular, an ammunition depot with phosphorous warheads in Lozova city.

The fire in the Dnipropetrovska constitutes the biggest threat in the territory of Novomoskovskyi military forestry. 450 hectares of forest were burning. On Wednesday the fire was brought under control. However, on August 5 hot spots increased, said senior specialist in the press service of the Ministry for Emergencies Vasyl Slavetskyi. “The fire is being extinguished by more than a thousand people from the Ministry for Emergencies, Defense Ministry, State committee of forest management, 61 units of equipment and Mi-8 helicopter”. “In the afternoon the fire was three kilometers from the settlement Hvardiiske, where fuel and lubricant warehouses are located, but now there is no threat”, – reported the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry for Emergencies in the Dnipropetrivska region.

According to the State committee of forest management, over 600 hectares of forest burned out. “Another fire started on August 5 near Pavlohrad, more than 20 hectares burned out,” – said a spokesman for the State committee Andrii Solymov. There was a danger that the fire would get to chemical plants that are nearby, the military are sent there. “The fire is brought under control, there is no threat”, – reported a spokesman for the Dnipropetrivskyi regional Main Directorate of Ministry for Emergencies.

12:45 am The situation is tense in Ukraine. According to the State Committee of forest management, nearly the entire country is expecting for new fires. The forests are in danger from Luhansk to Kyiv, from the Crimea and Odesa to Chernihiv and Sumy (here the 5th, the highest class of fire risk).

The peat-bogs are going to burn also in the Kyivska region. “The hot spots are in the village Kotiuzhanka, Rakivka in the Vyshhorodskyi district, village Ozera Borodianskyi district, Obukhovychy in the Ivankovskyi and Stoianka villages in the Kyivo-Sviatoshynskyi district” – the head of the press-service of Ministry for Emergencies in Kyivska region Viktoria Ruban reported. – There are no forest fires there. Each district of the region is under control. In the morning and in the evening inspectors are traveling all over the territories”.

“All conifer forests are in danger all over Ukraine – said the head of an authoritative ecological association Green World Yurii Samoilenko. – Weather is the same as in Russia: at any time all our pine fund may catch fire. As for peat-bogs, they are located mostly on the beds of the Dnieper and Desna rivers. It is Kyivska, Chernihivska, Cherkaska, Dnipropetrovska, Zaporizka regions. Due to such heat it can fire at any time. It is very difficult to extinguish it. The main thing is to monitor the situation, and if some a fire appears somewhere, to eliminate it immediately.

According to the head of Hydrometeorological center Mykola Kulbida, the temperature may reach 42 degrees above zero in the central, eastern and north-eastern parts of Ukraine. But the Ministry for Emergencies says that the situation is under control. “We can involve more than 5,000 personnel, 1,000 units of equipment to combat the fire. Also, there are 4 special planes (two of which are in Russia) and 4 helicopters. Nearly 7,000 raids are already made in the most hazardous forests, 1,500 holidaymakers are fined”- said the head of the press service of the Ministry for Emergencies Liudmyla Scherban.

Fortunately, emergency measures have already been taken up. First Vice Prime Minister Andrii Kliuev asked the central and regional authorities to ensure round the clock monitoring over the situation, to check the readiness of health facilities to provide assistance to the victims of the fires. He prohibited the entry of transport in the forest and stop near forest plantations. Also military exercises, shooting, disposal of ammunition and explosive substances are stopped.

http://mignews.com.ua/en/print-articles/36535.html