Natural fires due to grass burning have become more frequent in Ukraine

Natural fires due to grass burning have become more frequent in Ukraine
Katerina Belousova

464 hectares of land burned in the region

In Poltava Oblast during 2023, there were 833 fires in natural ecosystems, in which two people died during dry burning.

He told about this at the briefing Volodymyr Hryshanin, deputy head of emergency prevention at the Main Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Poltava Region, Poltava Regional State Administration reports on YouTube.

He emphasized that the number of fires compared to 2022 increased by 8.2%. The main causes of fires were:

  • careless handling of fire when burning dry vegetation and garbage;
  • spontaneous combustion of substances and materials;
  • caught fire

t.me/dsns_telegram

t.me/dsns_telegram

Grishanin explained that during the spring-autumn period, people clean their farms by burning garbage, dry grass on pastures, and leftovers from harvested crops.

"People don't think about the consequences of taking seemingly simple fire safety rules lightly. As a result of fires in ecosystems, the palia themselves suffer when the fire spreads to buildings and structures, parked cars," he said.

Grishanin noted that in 2023 Poltava Oblast recorded:

  • 768 cases of burning of dry vegetation and garbage on a total area of ​​more than 464 hectares (2 buildings and 2 vehicles were destroyed, 8 buildings were damaged);
  • 22 forest fires on an area of ​​9.5 hectares;
  • 36 fires on agricultural land on an area of ​​about 32 hectares;
  • 7 peat fires on an area of ​​7 hectares.

He added that from the beginning of 2023, during raid exercises, rescuers use quadcopters in their work. This helps to identify violators, and video recording becomes irrefutable evidence.

It is worth noting that fires in ecosystems systematically occur throughout Ukraine.

As reported by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (DSNS) in Telegram, on October 3, rescuers extinguished a large-scale fire in the Irpin community in the Kyiv region. The fire destroyed 6 hectares of grass, bushes and trees. The fire was extinguished in about 5 hours by the forces of 30 rescuers and 8 units of equipment.

t.me/dsns_telegram

t.me/dsns_telegram

Earlier, Ecopolitic wrote, that in Poltava Oblast in the Malopereshchepy Forestry, foresters prevented a large-scale fire, thanks to the quick detection and elimination of the fire. The fire damaged 0.18 hectares of forest floor, but it was possible to avoid a wildfire.

As EcoPolitic previously reported, in the Mykolaiv Oblast due to arson, a fire destroyed 48 hectares of the protected tract "Andriivske".

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