The fire hazard situation in the forest is monitored from the ground and from the air

The high fire hazard situation created by the abnormal heat forces the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the region to continuously monitor high-risk facilities.

– This includes not only forests and peatlands, but also populated areas, enterprises, recreation centers, sanatoriums, and children's camps located in forest zones and near peat deposits. As well as agricultural facilities, – explained the first deputy head of the regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Alik Goncharov, to journalists at a recent briefing. – About 80 units of fire fighting equipment with combat crews are on duty in the fields daily, monitoring harvesters. Currently, no fires have been registered at grain harvesting facilities in our region, but there have been 3 fires involving forage harvesting equipment.

In addition, on August 3, the State Fire Supervision bodies conducted fire prevention measures at 270 facilities in the risk zone. As a result, violations were identified at 33 of them, and deficiencies were eliminated directly during the inspection at another 41 facilities.

For timely detection of fires and ignitions, about 1360 foresters and gamekeepers are deployed on foot patrol routes of forest areas, and patrolling of assigned territories on motorcycles is also carried out. There are 78 fire observation towers and masts in the forest areas, with video surveillance cameras installed on 11 of them. Air patrols of the region's territories are carried out by 1 helicopter and 4 airplanes. Also, an unscheduled parachute-descent rescue group has been created at the Vitebsk Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The enhanced duty regime will last until further notice, which will be issued only after abundant rainfall and a decrease in temperature.

Ekaterina Knyazeva, "Vitebskiye Vesti"