Wildfires in central Russia have destroyed around 1,000 homes, left Eighteen people dead,

Medvedev wants army help to tackle Russian wildfires

By the CNN Wire Staff July 30, 2010 -- Updated 1434 GMT (2234 HKT)

Moscow, Russia (CNN) -- Wildfires in central Russia have destroyed around 1,000 homes, left 18 people dead, and prompted the prime minister to call on local officials to resign, Russian news agencies reported Friday.
The fires have been raging in five regions as Russia endures dry weather and one of the hottest months on record. Thursday saw Moscow reach 102 Fahrenheit (39 Celsius) degrees, the highest temperature since records began in 1879.
The fires are the worst ever to hit the European part of Russia, the region west of the Ural Mountains, the RIA-Novosti news agency said.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said there have been 21,690 fires so far this summer, 10 percent more than last year, the news agency reported.
President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the Defense Ministry on Friday to use the military to help tackle the fires, the president's spokeswoman, Natalya Timakova, told the Interfax news agency.
The government has already dispatched additional firefighting units, along with 16 aircraft and helicopters, to fight the fires, RIA-Novosti said.
Putin and Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu flew Friday to one of the affected regions, Nizhny Novgorod, where Putin called on local officials to step down.
"I recommend the resignation of the heads of regions (devastated by fire) who have, to a significant degree, lost the trust of citizens," Putin said, according to RIA-Novosti.
Many residents who lost their homes in Nizhny Novgorod had complained to Putin that local authorities' actions were "chaotic and uncoordinated," RIA-Novosti reported.
More than 500 homes burned down and several villages were destroyed across the region, which is about 250 miles east of Moscow. Russian state television reported a mass evacuation effort was under way there.



The five deaths happened in the Voronezh region, about 275 miles south of Moscow, news agencies reported. Twenty-one people were hospitalized there and more than 2,500 were evacuated, RIA-Novosti said.
"I don't know what to do," one Voronezh woman told state TV. "Haven't got any bed linen, cups, spoons, forks left. We're left with nothing. Everything was burned down. We couldn't salvage anything."
Forty-four houses were burned in the Moscow region, state TV said.
Putin said the families of those who died will receive 1 million rubles ($33,000) each in compensation, and the government will pay around 3 million rubles ($100,000) for the reconstruction of each destroyed house, RIA-Novosti said.
Putin said the government will also compensate people for the loss of property, the news agency said.
Temperatures across much of western and central Russia have topped 95 Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) degrees during the past five weeks, RIA-Novosti said.

Thursday's temperature in Moscow broke the previous record high of 99.5 Fahrenheit (37.5 Celsius), set just three days earlier. The month of July is expected to break the record for the hottest month ever recorded in Moscow.

Temperatures in Moscow dropped to between 82 and 86 Fahrenheit (28 to 30 Celsius) Friday because of a breeze, but weekend temperatures were forecast to rise again.




The hot, dry weather is believed to have made conditions more conducive to fires, drying out large parts of land and making it easier for flames to spread. Central Russia also has large areas of peat bogs that often catch on fire in dry and hot weather.