Nine people died in fires between Wednesday and Thursday in Ukraine, according to a toll that may still be only provisional. Fourteen others were injured and hospitalized, the state service for emergency situations said in a statement on 1 er October. Nearly 150 fires had broken out the day before in the Lugansk region, near the front line with pro-Russian separatists, in the east of the country.
In less than two days, they ravaged more than 11,000 hectares, driven by “extremely difficult” weather conditions – dry weather and gusts of wind, AFP reports.
As of Thursday, nearly 120 fires had been extinguished, but not far from 1,500 firefighters, rescuers, soldiers and police continued to fight against the flames, according to the Ukrainian authorities. The latter also closed the only crossing point between the separatist territories and the zone controlled by Kiev in the Lugansk region, the fire having caused the detonation of mines around this site, announced the local administration on Facebook. . Soon after, the fire reached the crossing point, named Stanytsia Luganska, from which most of the personnel were evacuated, border guards added.
Already five dead in July
The situation is not yet channeled. “We expect it to be difficult for at least another 24 hours” due to strong winds and lack of rain, said the state service for emergency situations.
This is not the first time this year that Ukraine has faced heavy fires. Affected by several successive heat waves and droughts, the country has become particularly vulnerable.
In September, fires killed a soldier in the Lugansk region. Two months earlier, in the same area, five people were killed and around 30 others were injured in massive forest fires. Dramas that could have to repeat themselves, while scientific models predict that climatic upheavals will multiply heat waves and droughts, with, as a corollary, the risk of ever increasing mega fires.
