Residents lose all in wildfire-hit Russia village

(14 Aug 2021) Residents of a village in Russia which was leveled by wildfires have started on Saturday to rebuild their homes with a hope to move into the newly built properties by October this year.
Last week flames destroyed 32 houses and 7 maintenance buildings in Byas-Kuel, a village in the Sakha-Yakutia region of Russia, and about 400 residents were evacuated, according to local officials.
Andrey Ivanov, who lost his home and belongings in the blaze spoke of his regret at not rescuing any items before the fire took hold, "I could have packed everything if we knew that the fire was moving in our direction" said Andrey adding "But we were not informed in advance and everything that stood here was burnt."
Another village resident, Svetlana Yakovleva lost her home and her domestic animals including pigs and rabbits.
She was working in the field when the wildfire hit the trees and spread across the village.
"It was scary, of course. I can't put it in words," said Yakovleva adding "the fire was burning near the village and then jumped over to the top of the trees."
Like many others who lost their homes in the inferno, Yakovleva is taking temporary shelter at the local school while she waits for her property to be rebuilt.
The clean up and rebuilding began the day after the fire demolished the village and the government promised to rebuild one house per family by October 2021.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday urged authorities to strengthen their efforts to fight wildfires across northeastern Siberia, calling the situation "unprecedented" as fires threatened people's homes.
Yakutia is the largest of Russia's 85 regions, a vast territory bigger than Argentina.
It has faced a spell of particularly devastating wildfires this year following months of hot, dry weather and record-breaking temperatures.
Flames previously threatened a dozen of villages, and several were evacuated.
The provincial capital of Yakutsk, several other cities and hundreds of villages have been blanketed in choking smoke from the blazes.
On Saturday, officials reported 108 active forest fires burning across nearly 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) in Yakutia.
Authorities have expanded a state of emergency in Yakutia to help transfer in firefighting resources from other regions.

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