“One was barely extinguished, the second blazed up”
Videos of forest fires between Abaru-Dyurso and Novorossiysk began to appear on the RuNet on Sunday around noon. After 4 hours, firefighters managed to overcome the fire that had captured one camp site, but another one immediately broke out.
According to official information from the authorities, a fire occurred in the forest area of Sukhaya Shchel (aka the Durso farm of the Krasnodar Territory, also known as the 61st quarter of the Abrau-Durso forestry), shortly after the fire was discovered, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Krasnodar Territory, the area of forest and grass burning was the section between Abrau and Novorossiysk increased to 3, and then to 10 hectares. And because of a crown fire (when the crowns of trees burn), the fire spread to the territory of the recreation center. Tourists in the amount of 220 people, of which 40 were children, were evacuated, and all operational services (42 specialists, 16 units of equipment) were sent to extinguish the flames. Locals and vacationers are asked to refrain from traveling in the direction of Dry Gap so as not to impede the movement of equipment involved in extinguishing. And here is how those who observe the fire with their own eyes describe the same thing.
“The “Romance” was just extinguished when the “Blue Wave” flared up (local tourist centers), say vacationers around Abrau-Durso, but now in Novorossiysk. — The fire is severe, the road is cut off, the entire base is on fire! The parking lot with cars is also on fire, everyone whose cars survived came here. And what now, we see only on social networks, you can’t go to Abrau now…
Meanwhile, in a thematic chat uniting fans of tourist centers between Abrau and Novorossiysk, a call appeared to male tourists: “We really need physical help! Gathering place recreation center «Romantic». Volunteers, pay attention to your equipment, clothing, shoes, equipment. Be sure to bring water and drinking water with you.”
There is also some good news, if such is even possible when everything around is on fire: firefighters rescued a little fox that was rushing about on the burning edge, not knowing how to escape from the fire. While there is no way to release him to a safe place, he sits in a fire truck.
“Maly Utrish is burning near the checkpoint in Sukhaya Shchel,” eyewitnesses share. — You can see that houses and cars are on fire. I wonder why there are so many people in cars there? Who let them in and why? Even locals from Abrau-Durso were not allowed into the base by car, only with special passes. But now all these resourceful tourists are blocked there indefinitely. There is no road from there, only if the foresters allow you to drive through the reserve towards Anapa.
Meanwhile, those blocked at the base say that they have no way to leave. But the grass around them had already been extinguished from a helicopter.
“We have such black smoke covering everything, it’s very difficult to breathe, the houses are burning in the distance, and the helicopter is above us,” say the hostages of the camp site.
By 16:00, the fire had already engulfed 20 hectares of forest, burning 6 wooden houses and 2 cars.
— Another elderly woman disappeared, she went into the forest early in the morning to pick mushrooms, — they say at the camp site. — But maybe the rescuers picked her up, it’s still unclear who is where. There is no official information about the casualties yet.
— At the tourist centers, usually seasoned tourists gather, with backpacks, bowler hats and guitars, and not of the “sanatorium type,” says Lilya from Rostov, who was vacationing at one of the tourist centers that burned, and now located in Novorossiysk. — But the smoke is so suffocating that even experienced people have panic attacks.