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Fire Destroys 1,000 Ha of Forests in Kazakh North

Posted on: Wednesday, 24 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

Text of report by Kazakh Khabar TV on 23 August

Fire has been raging in a forest in [northern] Pavlodar Region for the second day now. The fire broke out in the Kokzhar forest farm of the Yertis Ormany state nature reserve's Beskaragay branch on 22 August midday and engulfed a huge territory of the pine forest within hours.

All the staff of the forest farm was called in to fight the fire. Fighting the fire has been complicated by strong wind with a speed of up to 24 metres per second. Additional detachments of the state fire-fighting service have been sent to help foresters from Pavlodar [the regional administrative centre]. Ten fire-fighting brigades, 39 fire engines and about 100 volunteers from local villages are fighting the fire. The fire has not yet been contained completely, but it has been localized.

According to the Emergency Situations Ministry, this is the biggest forest fire in the region since the beginning of 2005: the fire has destroyed over 1,000 ha in the Kokzhar forest farm, including 800 ha of thick forests.

According to an initial scenario, the fire was caused by an arson.

[Video shows a forest fire, fire engines, destroyed forests]

Source: BBC Monitoring Central Asia

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