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Fierce wildfires raging across Russia are a risk to the top-secret capital of its nuclear research industry, officials admitted last night.

Two soldiers were killed yesterday fighting blazes dangerously close to the highly sensitive town of Sarov, despite claims in recent days the fires were under control.

The town, where the atomic complexes are based, is so tightly guarded it remains closed to foreigners, as in Soviet times.

Hundreds of wildfires have been burning across three time zones in Russia. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday boarded a fire-fighting plane to dump water on blazes close to Moscow, where the smoke has caused thick smog.

At Sarov, 230 miles east of the capital and known during the Cold War as Arzamas-16, soldiers have dug a five-mile canal to protect the nuclear arms site.

The two who died were tackling blazes in forests surrounding the town, which remains ringed
by high fences and military checkpoints.

One, rifle battalion commander Vasily Tezetev, 22, ‘died the death of a hero’, according to the local emergency centre. Officials say some sensitive nuclear equipment has been removed from the site to be stored away from the fires.

An official for Russian nuclear body Rosatom insisted last night the nuclear facilities were ‘working normally’ but admitted there were four sites close to Sarov ‘where the risk of sudden inflammation
is still high’.

Conflicting reports over the threat have raised fears that officials are covering up the extent of the damage.

Built by Nazi prisoners of war, the first Soviet nuclear bomb was created in the town and it remains the headquarters of Russian atomic research.

Fires also threaten Snezhinsk, home to another of Russia’s top nuclear research centres, and the reprocessing plant Ozersk, also in the Urals, where a state of emergency has been declared.

Around 557 blazes are still raging, with forecasters fearing the extremely dry conditions could last another ten days.

Moscow remains covered by a stifling smog, with morgues full from a huge rise in the numbers dying during the heat wave.

The cost already to the Russian economy already amounts to a staggering £10 billion and experts have warned the damage will stall Russia’s recovery from recession.

‘Economic growth in Russia is slowing and the heat wave will lead to a further slowdown,’ said Alexander Morozov, chief economist for HSBC bank in Russia.

Source

Continue reading »]]> Fog and light winds were helping contain a wildfire that had ravaged parts of Southern California and scorched nearly 9,000 acres, authorities said late Saturday.

Mandatory evacuation orders had been downgraded to warnings in some areas in Santa Barbara County and the blaze was 40 percent contained, officials said in a news release.

The fire, which started Tuesday, had destroyed or damaged about 80 homes and buildings. Nearly 50,000 people had been evacuated, and 18 firefighters had been injured, officials said.

Cool ocean breezes, increased humidity and lack of heavy winds helped tame the fire.

“All of those together really gave us the opportunity to get in there and make a difference,” according to Fire Chief Tom Davis of Santa Barbara County, who said he thought more progress would be made by Sunday morning.

The cause of the fire was unknown.

The blaze comes about six months after another wildfire — the Tea Fire — destroyed about 200 homes in the area.

Weather helps fight against California fire – CNN.com

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This video is a series of shots of the Jesucita Fire in Santa Barbara, California on May 6, 2009. All of this footage was shot from downtown Santa Barbara only a few blocks from State Street and within walking distance to the ocean.- Scubaman5000

Continue reading »]]> Firefighters wary of unpredictable “sundowner” winds fought on Thursday to keep a wildfire that destroyed dozens of multimillion-dollar homes from burning through the city of Santa Barbara.

Although there were no further reports on Thursday of houses lost in the foothills above Santa Barbara, crews were on alert because the hot, dry winds notoriously pick up speed at sunset. Officials said about 3,500 homes remained threatened.

Some 15,000 people have been driven from their homes by the so-called Jesusita fire. It has also injured 10 firefighters and blackened at least 1,300 acres surrounding the picturesque seaside community since it ignited on Tuesday.

Calmer winds late Thursday afternoon gave firefighters the chance to make headway against the blaze, which was edging toward the more populated downtown area.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has spent recent days promoting wildfire safety throughout the state, visited the site of the first major fire of the year and said dozens of homes have been destroyed.

STUDENTS TRAPPED IN BACK-COUNTRY

“I didn’t want to lose my home. It’s that simple,” homeowner Albert Lindemann told KTLA-TV news, adding that his house ultimately was saved by firefighters who arrived just in time.

“I thought we were going to die,” he said. “Until I started seeing those firemen coming in there, I didn’t think any human being could be out there.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that search and rescue teams saved a group of middle-school students who had been camping in the backcountry and found themselves cut off by the fire.

Authorities said rugged terrain, thick brush and gale-force winds made it difficult to control the blaze. Winds died down overnight, allowing an aerial assault by water-dropping helicopters to continue round-the-clock.

Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for Santa Barbara County on Wednesday, a move that frees up additional funds and equipment. The firefighting force also was beefed up overnight, growing from more than 900 personnel to about 1,400, with additional helicopters and airplanes joining the battle.

Three firefighters whose engine was overrun by flames on Wednesday while they struggled to save a home were reported to be in serious condition at a Los Angeles burn center but were expected to recover.

In southern Arizona, fire teams said they were working to contain a blaze that torched three homes and burned 4,000 acres of mountainous grass and woodlands southeast of Tucson in recent days.

“The fire is not advancing,” Jonetta Holt, a spokeswoman for the incident management team said of the blaze near the city of Sierra Vista. “We have a line around it and we are working to secure it.”

In November, more than 200 homes were destroyed in Santa Barbara and the surrounding communities in a brush fire that was blamed on a bonfire started by local students.

Videos

• Jesucita Fire in Santa Barbara
• California WildFire May 2009

California wildfire unchecked as night falls

Continue reading »]]> SYDNEY – A SINGAPORE-OWNED energy delivery company is facing a class action suit over allegations that one of its power lines sparked last week’s deadly Australian bush fires which broke out in the Kinglake area of Victoria state.

Residents there are launching legal proceedings against SP AusNet over a fallen power line which is believed to have started the blaze.

SP AusNet is 51 per cent-owned by Singapore Power and listed on both the Australian and Singapore stock exchanges.

The company said yesterday that it would cooperate fully with any investigation into the cause of the fires.

‘We stand ready to assist the relevant authorities with their enquiries if it is necessary for us to do so now and in the coming months,’ said spokesman Louisa Graham.

Residents to sue Spore firm

Continue reading »]]> Australian police have charged a man with arson causing death over one of the country’s deadly bushfires.

The 39-year-old was also charged with deliberately lighting a bushfire near Churchill, in eastern Victoria state. The blaze killed at least 21 people.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has described Australia’s deadliest bushfires as mass murder.

At least 181 people were killed as the fires swept through Victoria in south-east Australia at the weekend.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged on three counts – arson causing death, a crime which carries a maximum 25-year prison sentence; and of deliberately starting a bushfire.

He also faces unrelated charges of possessing child pornography.

He did not appear in court in Morwell to hear the charges. His lawyer has described him as psychologically unwell and in a fragile mental state.

After being remanded in custody, the man was transferred to the state capital Melbourne, police say for his own safety because of public anger.

He will appear in court there on Monday.

Victoria Police Commissioner Christine Nixon has said it was possible a devastating blaze that killed at least 15 people in the town of Marysville was also the work of arsonists.

Marysville – a town that was virtually wiped out – remains cordoned off.

Investigators are still scouring the town where 80% of buildings were destroyed, and they had not been able to identify and remove all bodies, State Premier John Brumby said.

In other developments:

• Two men questioned in connection with allegations of looting in a fire-hit area are released without charge

• Police publish a photo-fit of a man wanted for questioning over a suspicious fire that started on Thursday in the Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe. The fire has been brought under control

• Firefighters are still trying to battle at least a dozen different blazes

• The tally of homes destroyed is now more than 1,800, and the number of people left homeless more than 7,000

• The Australian government plans to hold a national day of mourning and has promised to remove bureaucratic hurdles that have prevented the creation of a nationwide fire alert system.

Meanwhile, more than 150 actors, sports stars, politicians and musicians have taken part in a fundraising telethon.

Australian man charged with arson

Continue reading »]]> Australian police have detained two people suspected of deliberately lighting one of the bushfires which savagely swept through southeast Australia killing at least 181 people and leaving 5,000 homeless.

“The investigation is in its initial stages. Two people are assisting police with inquiries,” a police spokeswoman told Reuters Thursday. Police would not give any further details.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has described Australia’s deadliest bushfires last Saturday as “mass murder.”

Authorities say the toll is expected to rise beyond 200 as more bodies are discovered in the charred remains of houses in the southern state of Victoria.

In Victoria, arson carries a jail term of two to 15 years, and 25 years if there’s loss of life.

Several bushfires tore through rural towns north of Melbourne Saturday night, fanned by strong winds and heatwave temperatures.

The disaster area, more than twice the size of London and encompassing more than 20 towns north of Melbourne, has been declared a crime zone. The fires have burnt 1,033 homes and left 5,000 people homeless.

The tragedy is the worst natural disaster in Australia in 110 years. The previous worst bushfire was the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 which killed 75 people.

Reuters

Continue reading »]]> The death toll from Australia’s deadliest bushfires may reach 300, officials said, as police probe whether the blaze in the worst-hit town of Marysville was lit deliberately.

At least 181 people are confirmed dead in the wildfires sweeping through Victoria state and the coroner is prepared for as many as 300 bodies, Police Commissioner Christine Nixon told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“We are going house by house, street by street to search for bodies,” Nixon told the ABC’s Lateline program yesterday. Authorities believe “there are clearly more people who have died in this fire.”

The bushfires destroyed four major towns and dozens of hamlets, razing more than 1,000 houses and leaving 4,200 people homeless, according to the Country Fire Authority. As many as 100 of the 500 residents of Marysville, a town 60 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of the state capital, Melbourne, may have died and authorities view that fire as suspicious, Nixon said.

“The direction it came from, the pace it came with, all of those things are a part of the way we investigate a fire,” Nixon told the ABC. “Part of the concerns about Marysville is that it was just unexplained.”

Road blocks are set up around the town to prevent anyone except authorities from entering. Bodies are still being removed from buildings and being identified, Victorian Premier John Brumby said yesterday.

Record High Temperatures

Two weeks of record high temperatures, that reached 46.4 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) in Melbourne, and hot northerly gales across southeast Australia made conditions over the weekend worse than in February 1983, when 75 people in Victoria and neighboring South Australia died in what are known as the Ash Wednesday fires.

Thirty blazes are still burning across Victoria, with firefighters tackling three major fronts, the CFA said. Milder weather is allowing authorities to build so-called containment lines — bulldozing away scrub and forest — to slow the progress of the fires.

Victorian police believe fires in the Churchill area, southeast of Melbourne, were deliberately lit and the arson squad is investigating another 173 sites, CFA Chief Fire Officer Russell Rees said earlier this week.

Two people are “assisting police” in their inquiries in relation to fires in Yea and Seymour, Victoria Police said in a statement today.

People found guilty of arson can expect to be jailed for 25 years, the same penalty that applies to a murder conviction in Victoria, Brumby said this week.

Memorial Service

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s office said the federal government is planning a memorial service for the bushfire victims. “The whole nation stands with Victoria during this time of national tragedy,” it said in a statement.

The Australian Red Cross said its bushfire appeal has raised A$50 million ($32 million).

More than 450,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) of land has been destroyed, according to the CFA. The total damage of the blazes may be more than A$2 billion, Standard & Poor’s said.

Bloomberg.com: Australia & New Zealand

Continue reading »]]> A government official says the death toll from Australia’s worst wildfire disaster has risen to 108.

Authorities counted more victims overnight Monday as they reached further into a huge zone scorched by blazes that ripped across Victoria state at the weekend.

At least 700 homes had been destroyed in the fires that in some cases have razed entire towns.

State Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Geoff Russell said Monday that 108 deaths had been confirmed.

Australia’s previous deadliest fires were in 1983, when blazes killed 75 people and destroyed more than 3,000 homes in Victoria and South Australia.

The Associated Press: 108 killed in Australia’s worst fire disaster

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Australian emergency crews are stepping up their efforts to tackle wildfires that have ripped through the state of Victoria, killing 25 people.

About 30,000 firefighters are battling nine major fires, and the authorities say they expect more fatalities.

Victoria Premier John Brumby said he was considering an offer from the federal government to send in the army.

Entire townships have been destroyed in the fires, fanned by soaring temperatures and unpredictable winds.

Forecasters are predicting more extremely hot weather in the region – which has seen record temperatures of 47C (117F) in recent days.

‘Absolutely horrific’

Officials say they are battling against the worst fire conditions in the state’s history.

Witnesses described seeing walls of flames, trees exploding and the skies raining ash, as fires tore across 30,000 hectares (115 sq miles) of forests, farmland and towns.

At least 100 homes have been destroyed in Victoria and about 14,000 homes are without power.

Six people have been killed in the township of Kinglake, four at Wandong, three at Strathewen and one at Clonbinane.

One Strathewen resident told ABC local radio how local people had witnessed “absolutely horrific” scenes as they had helped battle the flames.

“The school’s gone, the hall’s gone… some people left it too late. We’ve lost friends, and we’re just waiting for more – children, loved ones,” she said.

The town of Marysville, with about 500 residents, was said to have been burned to the ground.

Local fire officer Greg Esnouf said: “We’re starting to get some reports in now that are very saddening. This latest report says Marysville possibly one building left standing – that’s just shocking.”

Residents were reported to be safe after they sheltered from the blaze in a local park.

‘Tragic day’

Tens of thousands of firefighters are trying to contain blazes in two other states – New South Wales and South Australia – but the fires there were largely contained or burning away from residential areas.

The fire service is using water-bombing aircraft to contain fires and thousands of volunteers are using water hoses.

“It’s obviously a tragic day and a tragic week in our history,” Mr Brumby said.

He said he was considering an offer from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to send the army in to relieve overstretched emergency crews.

Bushfires are common in Australia, but the current blazes are the most deadly since 1983, when 75 people died on a day that became known as Ash Wednesday.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Australia fires rage with 25 dead