Russia is burning

[Sir T]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-05/russian-wildfires-death-toll-rises-to-50-drought-may-force-export-ban.html

Wildfires in Russia have killed 50 people to date as record heat and drought continue to plague the heartland. There are “signals” that the government may ban grain exports as early as Aug. 10, the Grain Union said.

Fires concentrated in central Russia and the Volga River region have scorched 712,412 hectares (2,751 square miles), an area about three times the size of Luxembourg, the Emergency Situations Ministry said in an e-mailed statement today. Crews are battling 589 fires on 195,834 hectares, the ministry said.

Agriculture is the hardest hit part of the economy, with the government declaring a state of emergency in 28 crop- producing regions and grain yields down 20 percent this year. Agriculture accounts for about 4 percent of gross domestic product, according to Moscow-based VTB Capital. [...]

Dry and hot weather with “high” and “extreme” fire danger will persist in most areas of European Russia at least through Aug. 7, the state Hydrometeorological Center said on its website today. Fire danger will also be high in the Ural Mountains and the Tomsk region in Siberia, it said. Temperatures broke all-time records in five Russian cities yesterday.

Ouch.

[bhodi]

I am a terrible person since I immediately thought:

"Kharak. Kharak is burning."

[Teleku]

I am a terrible person since I immediately thought:

"Kharak. Kharak is burning."

Ok, you had to have played that game recently or something.  I loved the game, but its been so long since I played I had to look up that damn quote to even know what you where talking about.

[Vaiti]

I live on an island not far from Russia and we keep getting smoked out.

We have a yearly festival called Meripäivät and the opening day the entire island looked like it was covered in fog, which was actually smoke.
Russia does this every year. Burns and then the smoke covers Estonia or Finland. Looks like we get it this year.  

edit: Also The Beginning of Fire in Tamboles Village in Russia
I want to think I found this posted somewhere here, but I may have just seen it in irc/Facebook

[Teleku]

edit: Also The Beginning of Fire in Tamboles Village in Russia
I want to think I found this posted somewhere here, but I may have just seen it in irc/Facebook

Hey guys, don't panic.  I'm just going to keep driving into the fire, it'll be ok.

Jesus H. Christ.

[sickrubik]

Russia: Now with more California.

[Vaiti]

Back story to that was those guys drove out there to help the people in the village fight the fire. Start of the video shows when they first got there.
When they got there there were told there was nothing they could do to help, the entire village was just going to burn and nothing could be done.
The road they drove in on was clear when they came in, when they tried to leave by the same road the fire had already overtaken it. And well, that was the result. They could go back where they knew the fire was worse, or just try to keep going that way and hope for the best.

[WayAbvPar]

After everything burns, the mudslides will start, and all the bodies Stalin buried will come washing out. It should really be a fun time.

[01101010]

After everything burns, the mudslides will start, and all the bodies Stalin buried will come washing out. It should really be a fun time.

So Russia is going to raise an army of zombies... jeezus christ. 

And that vid above was intense. Not to sound to flippant about it, but I love situations like that. I have a weird adrenaline fix on natural disasters - supercell thunderstorms, hurricanes, flooding, shit like that gets me high as a kite. Drove through a fire zone in FLA one summer when fires were crawling across I-95. It wasn't like that, but charred trees on either side of the highway told the tail. Cool stuff with a hint of possible chance of dying - sign me up.

[Teleku]

That couldn't have been a comfortable situation.  I've driven past wildfires in California (that where under control and being let to burn out, which is why the road was still open) where the big wall of flame was waaaaay further away from the road than in that video.  I could still feel a solid blast of heat through the window/car door as we drove past at 65 mph.

[Minvaren]

Here's a different picture of the scope of it.


A second picture, scary for completely different reasons...

http://firefly.geog.umd.edu/firemap/

[Strazos]

The African and South American stuff is due to Slash and Burn, right?

[Minvaren]

You are correct, sir.