Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived in Voronezh on Wednesday. He met with pilots and firefighters currently involved in the efforts to contain wildfires in the surrounding region, spoke with some local residents left homeless by the disaster, and held a conference with regional government officials to plan further rescue and relief operations.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived in Voronezh on Wednesday. He met with pilots and firefighters currently involved in the efforts to contain wildfires in the surrounding region, spoke with some local residents left homeless by the disaster, and held a conference with regional government officials to plan further rescue and relief operations.
Photo: Putin and the Voronezh Governor Alexei Gordeyev at the Voronezh Airport.
Photo: Putin and the Voronezh Governor Alexei Gordeyev at the Voronezh Airport.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited a camp of rescue workers from the Emergencies Ministry. He thanked the rescue workers and firefighters for their efforts. It looks like they still have a lot of work to do, as the region has not seen wildfires on such a scale for the past twenty years.
Photo: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Voronezh Region Governor Alexei Gordeyev, and firefighters visiting recent wildfire sites.
Photo: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Voronezh Region Governor Alexei Gordeyev, and firefighters visiting recent wildfire sites.
Wildfires have been raging outside Voronezh since last Thursday. They have since destroyed more than 300 houses in the region, leaving about 500 people homeless. Five people have been killed in the fires, including a 56-year-old commander of a firefighting brigade. More than 6,000 local residents have been evacuated to safer areas. The Voronezh Region is one of seven regions in Russia where a state of emergency has been declared.
The firefighters told Putin they had never faced wildfires of this scale before. The prime minister asked them about their current working conditions. They said that the working conditions were quite good and that during breaks they had a place to rest and something to eat. Putin thanked the firefighters for their efforts, shook their hands and wished them success.
In the Emergencies Ministry camp, where a group in charge of the coordination of counter-wildfire efforts is headquartered, Putin again thanked all the rescue workers and firefighters involved in the operations.
“I saw the conditions your coworkers are operating in and said ‘Thank you, guys’ to them. And now I’d like to say the same to you. But there’s still a long way to go, because this is a complicated situation,” Putin said. “Special thanks to you for rescuing the people here. The evacuation was carried out quickly and without losses.”
Prime Minister Putin and Governor Gordeyev visited a hospital on the outskirts of Voronezh that had been saved from a wildfire last week. The crews of eleven fire departments took part in that operation. The hospital’s personnel also contributed, making use of fire hydrants and fire extinguishers.
While in Voronezh, Putin met with people who had lost their homes in wildfires. He pledged individual houses to families that had previously lived in housing shared with other families.
Prime Minister Putin told the people affected by the fire that he would ensure that the construction of housing for them was kept under strict federal control and that video surveillance cameras would be installed on all major construction sites across the region. All the information about the status of the construction works will be available in real time. Any interference with the video cameras’ transmission will be considered an emergency and a government commission will be dispatched to the site for inspection.
Putin visiting a temporary shelter for people who have lost their homes in the wildfires in the Voronezh Region.
