Russia Burning

While the American west has had a typical fire season so far this year, the Russians have had their asses handed to them over the past few weeks.

 Russian military personnel take a break while fighting wildfires.

Image kyped from the internet.

Record heat and drought have caused 520 fires to burn over 728 square miles and 2000 homes during the current siege, with the death toll at least 250.  Over 2500 square miles have burned since the current fire season began.

I know nothing about the Russian Fire service or how they handle wildfires. My guess is that they are hard pressed to handle this many serious fires and things won't die down until the weather changes.

As usual, boston.com has amassed some of the best images available of the conflagration and have posted them on their Big Picture Blog. What I like about this post is that the human toll of the disaster is reflected, as well as the imagery of the flames and the smoke. Very touching work, I recommend that you stop and take a look.

While we are talking about the Russian wildfire situation, the video below was first posted on The Fire Geezer's web site yesterday. It shows a car fleeing the flames as the fire approaches a small town in Russia. The occupants of the car might have waited a little too long before leaving and enter some extreme fire conditions.

There is a lot of profanity in the audio, but you won't be offended unless you speak Russian.



It's a pretty impressive video. For those of you that live in the urban/wildland interface, think about this video when making your wildfire escape plan.

Enjoy the photos and the video and, as always, thanks for reading,
Schmoe