On June 6, 2012, in the territory of the forestry of the Republic of Tuva (Tuva), the strongest forest fire broke out, costing the lives of several who tried to curb it to the firefighters. Eight paratroopers died during the execution of the mission, one received burns of a high degree of severity.
The beginning of summer 2012 was marked by a tragedy for the Republic of Tuva: in the Barun-Khemchinsky forestry located in the area of Lake Kara-Khol, a fire occurred that captured an area of 500 hectares. Until now, experts have not come to a definite opinion, which could have served as its reason. One of the most probable versions is dry thunderstorms (with minimal rainfall), which could lead to ignition of grass and trees, as well as abnormally hot weather and a squally wind, which contributed to the rapid spread of fire in hard-to-reach areas without water sources.
The Ministry of Emergencies of Russia put forward its version of what happened: the human factor, namely careless handling of fire. In June, in the forest-steppe zone of the Republic of Tuva, due to good weather, there were a considerable number of both tourists and huntsmen, each of whom could not pay attention to the smoldering coals of an extinguished fire or throw a smoking cigarette onto the ground. With reduced air humidity, in a short period of time, a piece of grass that took up decay or a tree branch could turn into hectares of a blazing forest.
Initially, the fire spread on the ground, which allowed to quickly extinguish the fires. However, due to a gusty wind (its speed reached 30 meters per second), the ground fire grew into a horse fire, which caused the mass death of fire officers landing on the scene.
Fourteen paratroopers were dispatched to eliminate the fire from the regional forest fire protection base. Upon arrival, they split up: a group of eight in the barrage of wind, literally raising the flames, was deprived of oxygen. The deaths of firefighters came as a result of suffocation. Among the dead paratroopers, the youngest was a little over twenty years old. Another paratrooper who was in the epicenter, Sergei Paderin, managed to get through the flames to the river and wait there until the fire died down. Only late in the evening, Sergei was able to get out of the burnt taiga, leaving the ranger's house. After hospitalization, it turned out that more than twenty-five percent of body parts were burned in the surviving Tuvinian and he would need a long rehabilitation. Most lucky were those five rescuers who left the fire on the slope and avoided burns.
As soon as the incident became known in the republic, an additional hundred paratroopers were sent to extinguish the taiga. As soon as possible, all the fires were destroyed. In parallel with the rescue operations in Tuva, investigative measures began, the purpose of which was to find out the reason: why the dead firefighters were sent by the command straight to the hell. The criminal case under the article “Causing death through negligence due to improper fulfillment by a person of his professional duties” at the beginning of July 2012 continues to take shape. However, the Rosleskhoz experts call weather conditions the most likely causes of multiple deaths.
In July 2012, the second series of forest fires began in Tuva due to increased air temperature and lack of rainfall. An emergency has been declared in the republic.
- SK called the probable cause of death of paratroopers in a fire in Tuva
- Rosleskhoz named the causes of death of paratroopers in Tuva
