City Under Evacuation In Irkutsk Region, Russia Due To Fires

The flame approaches another city.

A large fire started near the town of Vikhorevka in the Bratsk district of the Irkutsk region. According to local residents, the steppe around the city is on fire. A steppe fire was also spotted near Mount Morgudon, Radio Liberty reports.

“Everything is burning in the dachas, the sky is all in smoke, you can’t see the sun — there’s so much smoke. I cannot estimate how close to the houses the fire has already come, but the route to us must already be blocked. A friend sent me a photo — the road was already on fire, we barely made it through. The fire is coming towards us from the direction of Turma (a village in the Bratsk district, 22 km from Vikhorevka),” a resident of dachas near Vikhorevka told the editor. In the public page “First in Bratsk,” users publish photographs of the burning road to their dachas in Vikhorevka.

Mayor of the Bratsk district Alexander Dubrovin said that the evacuation of residents in Vikhorevka was organized due to a complex fire. “The crown fire is the most difficult to extinguish and the most dangerous. Fire leaves nothing in its path. The evacuation of dacha residents has begun, a bus has been prepared for them, many are leaving in their cars,” he wrote in his channel and asked people not to refuse the offer to leave for safe areas.

In addition, a timber warehouse caught fire in the Pravoberezhny district of Bratsk. It is also reported that the fire has already spread to production facilities, garages and cars, the Bratchane channel reports. Local residents say that the fire came close to the 45th block — an area of multi-storey buildings in Hydrostroitel. The center of Bratsk is filled with smoke from fires around the city.

According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, five gardenings caught fire in the Bratsk district and declared an extreme fire danger for May 7-8 due to strong winds.