The Siberian fires

Canada: Smoked out by Siberia

It may be forest fire season but the smoke in the Okanagan Valley is not from a local wildfire.

Castanet,

13 August, 2012

The lingering haze has blown over the pacific from Siberia.

Fire information officer Keven Skrepnek says the smoke is from the same wildfires that were burning in Siberia over a month ago.

"It's actually getting caught in the jet stream and then once it hits our shores, it starts to do an inversion and gets trapped in the valley bottoms."

The smoke is moving west to east and was first reported to the fire information centre early Monday afternoon by residents of Tulameen and Princeton.

Skrepnek says forestry conducted air patrols throughout the interior to ensure the smoke was not coming from a wildfire burning within the area.

Currently there is only one wildfire burning in the province, it is located 40 km south west of Merritt and is 20 hectares in size. According to Skrepnek smoke from this fire is headed north and not into the Okanagan.

Forestry is predicting the Siberian smoke should continue heading east toward Alberta.

However Environment Canada is forecasting thundershowers in the Okanagan Valley for Tuesday that could help to dissipate the haze.

Size of forest fires in Siberia contracts insignificantly

Russia Beyond the Headlines,

13 August, 2012

The size of forest fires raging in the Siberian Federal District increased from 3,927 hectares to 4,466 hectares, the forestry department of the Siberian Federal District announced on Monday.


The forest guard, Avialesokhrana reserves and local firefighters extinguished fires over an area of 1,600 hectares, including one major fire over a territory of 141 hectares. The department also reports that 16 forest fires over a territory of 2,400 were contained, including three major ones with a combined area of 1,900 hectares.


The fires are ranging mainly in Krasnoyarsk territory and Tomsk region.


Krasnoyarsk territory has registered 28 forest fires over an area of 2,800 hectares. By now 33 forest fires over a territory of 1,300 hectares have been extinguished, and 11 contained over an area of 1,400 hectares, including two major fires covering 1,035 hectares.


Tomsk region reports nine forest fires over a territory of 1,500 hectares. The territory under fires was reduced by 15 hectares.


"There is no threat to populated areas or economic facilities in the federal district," the report says. The main causes for the fires are agricultural burning, dry thunderstorms and carless handling of fire. Hence the forest guard insists on the observation of fire safety rules and calls for refraining from making bonfires.


Federal Forestry Agency has warned about a high forest fire risk in southern Russia. The forest fire risk will be the highest on Tuesday and Wednesday due to the dry and hot weather, the Agency told Interfax. "There will be a high or even very high fire risk from August 14 through 16 in the north of the Stavropol territory, the south of the Rostov region, the west of the Krasnodar territory, the Republic of Kalmykia, the Astrakhan and Orenburg regions, the Republic of Dagestan and the south of the Krasnoyarsk territory," the Agency said.


A total of 123 forest fires, including one big, were put out over the past day. There is no threat to residential areas or economic sites, it said. "Forty forest fires were put out and 14 were confined on the day they broke out. As of now, 94 forest fires are raging in Russia on 12,588 hectares, among them 93 forest fires on 12,580 hectares and a fire on 8 hectares," the Agency said.