On August 5, a column of special machinery and Mi-8 helicopter of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus left the airport of Lipki for Ryazan to assist in fighting against forest and peat fires. Moreover, to assist Russia in fighting against forest and peat fires there was formed a composite detachment of Belarusian Emergency Ministry.
The composite detachment includes 20 fire search-and-rescue vehicles of high cross-country ability, accompanied by five service vehicles and 150 rescuers, as well as Mi-8 helicopter of the MES, equipped with spillway device, BelTA informs.
From the airport of Lipki there departed a part of special machinery column, which included cars from Brest, Minsk and Grodno regions. In Orsha it will be joined by the second part of the column, which includes vehicles of the MES units of Vitebsk, Mogilev and Gomel regions, from where all the cars will go to Ryazan.
Then, there will be made a decision which Russia’s regions exactly are mostly needed in Belarusian rescuers’ help. Belarusian rescuers trip is planned to last two weeks, it can be extended depending on the situation.
As First Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations, Valentin Karpitsky, noted when giving the column a send-off, the composite detachment was formed under the instruction of the government of Belarus in coordination with the Russian side. «The situation with fires in Russia is very complicated, there were recorded more than 24 thousand seats with total area of more than 700 thousand hectares, and it’s very difficult for Russian rescuers to fight against them by their own», Valentin Karpitsky said.
However, First Deputy Minister stressed that because of the heat in Belarus there also developed complicated situation with forest and peat fires. «But, we manage to find and eliminate fire at an early stage», Valentin Karpitsky said. «MES departments are working in medium security mode, and the MES air force doubled the number of flights over the territory where the fire most likely to occur. All taken preventive measures allow us to keep the situation under control».
As Telegraf already reported, earlier, Belarus offered Russia its assistance in extinguishing fires and restoration of housing for fire victims. As the spokesman of Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Peskov, said, the offer to assist was voiced by Prime Minister of Belarus, Sergei Sidorsky.
