'Rescuers are working to the limit': large-scale fires rage in the Chernobyl exclusion zone

Fires in the Chernobyl exclusion zone are a long-standing fear of Kiev residents and residents of the northern regions of Ukraine. People believe that “charged” radioactive particles can spread with smoke, almost like during the 1986 accident, writes BBC News Ukraine.

In fact, the spread of radiation, if it happens, is very local.

However, fires in a forested area are indeed a problem, but more from an environmental point of view than from a radiation safety point of view.

"Bad news"

“There is bad news - in the center of the fire, radiation is higher than normal. As you can see in the video, the readings of the device are 2,3 when the norm is 0,14,” this is how the acting chairman of the State Environmental Inspectorate Yegor Firsov described the fire in the exclusion zone.

Post accompanies the video with an alarm signal from the dosimeter about exceeding the permissible indicators of one of the types of radioactive radiation.

Egor Firsov clarified that we are talking only about “the situation at the source of the fire.”

But in the Ukrainian and other media space, the message about a “radioactive fire” in the Chernobyl zone and “a sharp excess of radiation standards” has once again spread.

Fire in the “polluted” west

“Radioactive contamination in the zone is uneven, but in general, elevated levels are observed in the western and northern parts of the territory,” explains Nikolay Fomin, a leading guide at Gamma Travel, who has been working in the Exclusion Zone for many years, to BBC News Ukraine.

The current fire, judging by the reports of the State Emergency Service, arose in the western part of the Exclusion Zone. This is the area of ​​Kotovsky forestry.

Kotovskoye is one of the abandoned villages in the Polesie region, the village of Ragovka closest to the fire in the north-west of the Kyiv region.

“The main part of the fire is located in the west, so a certain excess of permissible levels in the fire is a “normal” phenomenon for the zone,” notes Nikolai Fomin.

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In total, 20 hectares of forest caught fire.

This really leads to the spread of radiation, but we are not talking about mass pollution.

“When contaminated wood and vegetation burn, isotopes are released and spread with smoke and dust very locally, over tens or hundreds of meters. However, the levels at the fire site are rising,” notes Nikolai Fomin.

According to him, on such a scale, the threat of pollution outside the Zone is minimal.

Seasonal phenomenon

“In general, forest fires in the zone are a seasonal phenomenon. The problem is that the grass cover of the Exclusion Zone is very dry in the warm season, and with a long absence of precipitation, the danger of fires increases,” explains Fomin.

“All relevant services in the Zone know about this and regularly prepare for such situations. Explanatory work is constantly carried out and personnel are trained for rapid response,” adds Nikolai, who maintains contacts with various services in Chernobyl and the Chernobyl zone.

The causes of the fire can be both natural and related to people.

“Recently, the popularity of so-called illegal visits to this territory has increased. People who enter the Zone in this way grossly ignore all fire safety rules,” notes Nikolai Fomin.

And he adds: “At the same time, the fine for trespassing is about a hundred times less than the fine for not wearing a mask in public places.”

“Illegal immigrants” in the Chernobyl zone, if caught by police or border guards, risk receiving administrative fines - usually several hundred hryvnia.

Can open windows

Meanwhile, firefighters report the elimination of the fire near Ragovka.

However, individual fires remain in other areas in the west of the Exclusion Zone, including the abandoned village of Polesskoye.

Although, according to firefighters, we are not talking about a crown fire (although it was reported about it) - grass and forest litter are burning.

We are not talking about a serious increase in the level of radiation.

“The radiation background in Kiev and the Kiev region is within normal limits and does not exceed natural background values ​​(Kyiv - 0,013 mR/h, Kiev region - within 0,011 mR/h. With an acceptable background of 0,05 mR/h),” they report DSNS.

“In the exclusion zone and unconditional resettlement, the equivalent dose rate of gamma radiation has not changed (Chernobyl - 0,2 mR/h with a control permissible level of up to 0,55 mR/h, at the Dityatki control center 0,1 mR/h with a control permissible level level up to 0,2 mR/h),” rescuers add.

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The absence of the danger of radiation is also mentioned in other official bodies.

For example, the Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety carried out air measurements in Kyiv - in those areas where radioactive smoke could come.

“According to the results of measurements, no man-made radionuclides were found on the territory,” the Center says.

In the end, Yevgeny Firsov also called not to panic due to a fire in the zone.

“You can not be afraid to open windows and ventilate rooms during quarantine,” he wrote on Facebook.

But this does not mean that firefighters working in radioactively “dirty” places are not at risk.

Now the firefighters who put out and put out the fires in the Chernobyl zone are being examined at the National Institute of Radiation Medicine.

“Rescuers are working to the limit of their capabilities in extremely difficult conditions... I worry about each of the guys as much as I do about myself... It is indignant that the firefighters who are forced to work in the Chernobyl zone are not eliminating the consequences of some accident, but the consequences of human negligence and criminal acts,” wrote the head of the DSNS in Kyiv, Anatoly Vatolin.

The negligence he is talking about was discovered by the police.

They say that they found who exactly is to blame for the fire.

“He turned out to be a 27-year-old resident of the village of Ragovka. As the young man explained to the police, he set fire to garbage and grass in three places for fun. After which the wind spread the fire further and he was no longer able to cope and put out the fire,” the law enforcement agency said in a statement.

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