Heatwave in 2020 caused ‘world’s coldest inhabited place’ to boil at 38°C; subsequent wildfires increased emissions and air pollution in the region
Burning taiga in Russia. Representative photo from iStock Authorities in the Irkutsk Oblast (administrative division) of Siberia in Russia declared a state of emergency on May 6, 2024, after a huge forest fire spread through the Bratsk district, a report in the Russian daily Moscow Times, said.
Igor Kobzev, the governor of Irkutsk, declared a state of emergency across the Bratsk district, even as a woman was reported critically injured due to the fires, according to the Moscow Times. Local residents have been evacuated to municipal centre of Vikhorevka.
On May 6, Irkutsk was among the nine regions where wildfires had been raging over the past 24 hours, according to a statement by the Russian Federal Forest Agency. On May 7, fires were raging in 6 regions of the country, as per the Agency:
There is a state of emergency across the Jewish Autonomous Region and Khabarovsk Territory, the statement added.
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Russian authorities have, meanwhile, extinguished 65 forest fires on 7,261 hectares across 15 regions of the country on May 7:
Russia’s wildfire season, began in early March in eight regions. The Russian Hydrometeorological Centre recently forecast that most of Russia will likely experience prolonged periods of “high” and “extreme” wildfire danger this year, according to the Moscow Times.
This is not the first time that Siberia is witnessing devastating wildfires. Down To Earth reported on the heatwave in the vast region in 2019 and 2022, which were subsequently followed by wildfires.
On June 20, 2020, the town of Verkhoyansk in the Sakha Republic or Yakutia, usually known as the ‘coldest inhabited place in the world’, recorded a temperature of 38 degrees Celsius, probably the highest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic Circle region.
DTE reported in 2022 that around 4.7 million hectares (mha) of the Arctic was burned down due to forest fires in 2019 and 2020. This was equal to 44 per cent of the total burned area in the Siberian Arctic in the last 38 years.
In 2021, the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service stated that the world’s coldest regions, including Siberia and North America, had been on fire even during the winter months.
Finally, a DTE analysis last year found that Siberia had witnessed over 150 per cent rise in air pollution due to the massive wildfires of recent years.
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