Mosoblles specialist told about the dangers of peat fires: it can survive even winter

Another peat fire was extinguished in the Ramenskoye urban district - the hotbed of smoldering was found on October 12. From the village of Kratovo to it was only about six kilometers. Residents were the first to raise the alarm: they saw smoke and dialed 112. Then the signal went to the regional dispatch service of Mosoblkomles, and twelve fighters of forest fire formations on five cars moved to the place. There was no open fire left, but experts of the Forestry Committee of the Moscow region called the expected cause - people neglected fire safety rules. Now investigators are looking for the perpetrators, and the collected materials have already laid on the table of supervisory authorities.

The cost of such carelessness can be serious. The fine for an ordinary citizen reaches 60 thousand rubles, for an official - 110 thousand, and for a legal - two million. If arson leads to a major forest fire, the perpetrator faces imprisonment for up to ten years.

The current incident near Kratovo is not a local case, but another reminder of a chronic problem. Peat fires for the suburbs have long been a seasonal disaster. According to the GKU MOS ABC, 1090 peat deposits with a total area of more than 150 thousand hectares were taken into account in the region. Some of them belong to the most fire-hazardous categories. These sites are scattered around Lukhovitsy, Shatura, Orekhovo-Zuev, Egorievsk, Noginsk, Pavlovsky Posad, Taldom, Dmitrov and Sergiev Posad. The largest deposits of peat are historically concentrated in the east and southeast of the region - in the Meshchersk lowland. It is there that in dry years the smoldering earth becomes a source of pungent smoke that covers Moscow and the surrounding area. Smog 2010, according to experts, was largely the result of peat fires.

"MK" talked with the deputy director of the branch - the forester Shatur branch of GAU MO "Mosoblles" Andrey Bobkov and found out why peatlands burn, what they are dangerous and what to do to avoid becoming the culprit of another fire.

What are the main causes of peat fires?

- Any fires, as a rule, arise from careless handling of fire: an unextinguished match, a cigarette. Peat fires can also occur from a lightning strike and manifest themselves after a certain time, depending on weather conditions - humidity, air temperature. The main cause of fires of this type is usually the burning of last year’s dry grass in the spring and autumn fires, which quickly spread through the fallen dry foliage, after which the fire deepens into the organic soil layer in several places at once.

- How dangerous is a peat fire? Is it more dangerous than just a wildfire? What's his biggest threat?

Peat fire is dangerous because when extinguished, you can fall into a burning underground burnt-out funnel, which is visually not visible, but has a high burning temperature of materials - 500-600 degrees Celsius. Even this type of fire is difficult to detect, and when it begins to manifest itself, it is already large burned areas with fallen trees and with a sufficient depth of combustion. There is no telling which fire is more dangerous. A horse fire, like a peat fire, cannot exist without a grassroots fire. Any fire should be approached competently and eliminated at the initial, early stages of development.

- What is the smoke from peatlands?

- A peat fire has a caustic smoke with a characteristic “sour”.

- Can a peat fire "wake up" again after it has been extinguished? How long can it smolder underground?

- In fact, not fully extinguished fire can manifest itself in the next day, as well as in months. Autumn fires after entrenchment in peat deposits can go away in winter and stay there until spring.

- What measures are being taken to extinguish peat fires? Why are they so hard to put out?

- When burning, peat cokes, thereby making it difficult to extinguish. Therefore, when extinguishing such a fire, it is necessary to continuously supply water, blurring the condensed layers of peat to a very wet mass - peat pulp.

- What preventive measures are needed to minimize peat fires?

- Basically, these are, of course, preventive conversations with the population, patrolling forest guards of places with peat deposits.

- What can a person do to avoid causing a peat fire, and how to act if he notices signs of underground burning?

- You have to be careful with fire. If it is a cigarette butt, or a match, another source of fire, then be sure to completely extinguish it. If a person smelled smoke or saw smoke, it is necessary to report it to the regional dispatch service (RDS), or by phone 112 (EDDS) indicating the place of fire and coordinates.