The cause of the landscape fire in Dagestan could be a human error

The cause of the landscape fire in the Akhtyn district of Dagestan could be a human error. On March 17, Izvestia correspondent Murad Magomedov reported this with reference to the regional authorities.

"The regional authorities reported that the cause of the fire was human error. A local resident was cleaning her backyard and set fire to dry grass near the mountainside, and there the fire spread further," the correspondent said.

According to him, there is no threat to populated areas, but the situation may change if the wind increases or changes direction.

Vagab Abdulhamidov, Chairman of the Forestry Committee of the Republic of Dagestan, shared that the fire is low-level and fleeting. According to him, the litter is mostly on fire. However, he noted that it takes several hours to get to the source of the fire.

"Extinguishing occurs by laying mineralized strips, but due to the fact that the slope is very large, <...> a situation arises periodically when we have eliminated a hearth, laid a mine strip, extinguished, however, burning cones from the ignition body roll over the mine strip and form a new hearth after 2-3 hours," he added.

According to Abdulhamidov, 175 people are involved in extinguishing the fire, including specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, an airmobile group from Makhachkala and surrounding areas, forestry workers and the local population.

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The fire occurred on March 15 on the slope of the mountain, which is located 2 km from the village of Khryug. The elimination of the fire is complicated due to the inaccessible terrain and the lack of access to specialized equipment. According to the latest data from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, the fire area has increased to 14 hectares.