MOSCOW – The Russian government warned yesterday that the country’s deadliest wildfires in nearly four decades could pose a nuclear threat if they were not contained, as the death toll rose to 50 and the blazes continued to spread.
The worst heatwave in more than a century is set to intensify today, with record temperatures of 40 degrees expected and the extreme heat to continue into next week, weather forecasters said.
Prime minister Vladimir Putin announced a ban on exports of grain and grain products from August 15th until December.
Emergencies minister Sergei Shoigu said heat from fires in the Bryansk region, which already has nuclear contamination from the Chernobyl disaster more than 20 years ago, could release harmful radioactive particles into the atmosphere.
“In the event of a fire there, radionuclides could rise [into the air] together with combustion particles, resulting in a new pollution zone,” he said on state television.
Forest and peat bog fires have burned hundreds of homes, leaving thousands homeless in the hottest summer since records began 130 years ago.
Health minister Tatyana Golikova told a government meeting that 44 people across the country had died in the fires themselves, while six had died in hospitals, taking the death toll to 50, two more than the day before.
Temperatures in Moscow topped 36 degrees but a change of wind direction provided some respite in the capital by blowing away oppressive and toxic smoke that had blanketed the city.
The military prosecutor for the Moscow region gave orders to protect military sites after reports that a communications centre was burned down.
The Ministry of Defence denied the reports. However, it also denied last week that fire had ravaged a naval base. President Dmitry Medvedev sacked several senior navy officers on Wednesday after it was revealed that the blaze had indeed occurred. – (Reuters)