UPDATE: EURE Fires, 8.26.10. RADIATION from Russian fires; Portugal loss; Spain Arson

RUSSIA: they are reporting fires under control but the excerpt from the first URL below shows thousands of acres are still burning. Also in this article is the comment that fifty-two people have died, official count from fires and smoke, with "700 deaths/day" in the capitol of Russia as a combined effort of high heat and effect of the fires. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Russian-Wildfires-Shrink-While-Temperatures-Cool-in-Moscow-100756309.html

Russia has banned grain exports due to the drought which is reported to be the "worst in a century." Excerpt: "The export ban, set to extend to December 31, sent global wheat prices soaring to a two-year high and sparked concern that the crisis could destabilize food prices in Europe and the Middle East."

"TIME" magazine has an interesting article comparing the Russian fires, still burning, with the "ashes of Chernobyl." Simon Shuster, 8.19.10. The text explains that one of the areas burned has radioactive elements still in it from the Chernobyl days.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2011860,00.html#ixzz0xj9qfJVC

Excerpts: "...the nation must come to terms with another tragedy: the negligence of its leaders, many of whom were too slow to act — or stayed away on vacation — while fires consumed entire villages."

" 'If fires break out [in Bryansk], radioactive particles could be stirred up along with the fumes from the fire, and a new zone of contamination could emerge,' Shoigu told reporters. 'I hope we will be able to get through this without fires turning up there.' "

"No such luck. On Aug. 10, the Russian arm of Greenpeace said 20 fires were raging in forests affected by Chernobyl, with three of those in the fallout zones of Bryansk. As evidence, Greenpeace superimposed a satellite map of the burning sites onto a map from the International Atomic Energy Agency showing where radiation had seeped into the soil and vegetation after Chernobyl. The two clearly overlapped. Three days later, a deputy for the regional parliament in Bryansk, Lyudmila Komogortseva, found that radiation levels in the burning forests were six to 12 times higher than they were before the fires began."

Leaders are worried. Fires are out in the radioactive Bryansk region but "Deputy for the regional parliament in Bryansk, Lyudmila Komogortseva" toured the area by helicopter on 8.18.10 and reported in http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2011860,00.html#ixzz0xjBiIo5h :

"Yet thousands of tons of radioactive deadwood still litter the forest floor, she says. The wood could release a cloud of radiation if ignited. The levels would be a tiny fraction of what Chernobyl poured into the atmosphere 24 years ago, but experts have warned that winds could carry radioactive particles deep into Europe, and the effects are difficult to predict because of the lack of reliable data from Bryansk. (See pictures of the worst nuclear disasters.) "

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2011860,00.html#ixzz0xjAxoSuZ



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2011860,00.html#ixzz0xj9ev7Dk



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2011860,00.html#ixzz0xj93IZsq

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2011860,00.html

PORTUGAL & SPAIN: This is an older report dated 8.13.10. It describes fires still raging in both countries. http://itn.co.uk/7e366f1e2e935c6a8db3a9107701338c.html

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PORTUGAL: "Catastrophic forest fire delivers huge blow to Europe's rarest seabird ""Bird Life International" reports that the island SW of Portugal, named Madeira, has been greatly affected by the recent fires. Excerpts:

"Zino’s Petrel Pterodroma madeira is Europe’s rarest seabird and one of the rarest birds in the world, nesting only on a few mountain ledges in the rugged central massif of Madeira island. Once on the edge of extinction with numbers down to a few tens of pairs, intense conservation action over the past 20 years, led by the Natural Park of Madeira (Parque Natural da Madeira - PNM) with support from SPEA, the Freira Conservation Project and Funchal Municipal Museum, has seen its population grow to almost 80 pairs."

"In recent weeks, forest fires have ravaged parts of Madeira, and on 13 August they hit the heart of the central massif. This area (which is protected as part of the EU’s Natura 2000 network) comprises a very important habitat and supports several endemic plants and animals, including the Zino’s Petrel breeding colony, where many nestlings were still in their burrows."

"25 young and 3 adults were found dead, and only 13 young fledglings were found alive in their underground chambers. As well as the dead birds, the fire exacerbated soil erosion, with several nesting burrows having disappeared."

http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2010/08/Zinos-petrel-disaster.html

"The amount of forest destroyed by wildfires in Portugal could be far greater than previously thought. Latest satellite estimates suggest that more than 50,000 hectares of forest burned in the first 12 days of August."

"The Portuguese interior minister has said that more than 90 per cent of the fires are started by people."

SPAIN: http://www.euronews.net/2010/08/14/portugal-and-spain-probe-intentional-fires/ Excerpts from this article by EURONEWS:

"Three shepherds have been arrested in the north, suspected of lighting fires to renew their pasture land."

"In Spain an inquiry is underway following the deaths of two firefighters in the northwestern Galicia region....The two men, one 27, the other 35, were overcome by the flames late on Thursday night. ...The authorities believe the fire that killed them was of criminal origin. Over the previous four days four other fires had been started in the same place."

"Emergency workers are battling to contain wildfires in other parts of Spain as well. Seven people were detained over a two-day period suspected of arson."