2 August 2010 Last updated at 15:58

Russian forest fires: Your pictures

Man takes pictures of fires. Photo: Ilya Varlamov (zyalt)

Ilya Varlamov has witnessed the forest fires in the Moscow region, and sent his photographic account of the events to bbcrussian.com's community in LiveJournal under his username zyalt.

Fire in Russia. Photo: Ilya Varlamov (zyalt)

It is impossible to enter a forest when a fire is raging. You simply cannot breathe. This fire is spreading at a low level, so it is easier to put out.

This is the M5 motorway, 100 km away from Moscow. The fire epicentres are here, near the town of Lukhovitsy. Almost all forests along the road have burnt out. Some roads have been sealed off by police.

This is what a forest looks like now.

Water carriers. Photo: Ilya Varlamov (zyalt)

Locals are carrying water in containers like this.

Man putting out fire with sticks. Photo: Ilya Varlamov (zyalt)

When people run out of water they use sticks to put out the fire.

Sun hidden by smoke. Photo: Ilya Varlamov (zyalt)

The sun has become permanently shrouded in the smoke.

A fire engine gets stuck. Photo: Ilya Varlamov (zyalt)

There is a shortage of fire engines and they are failing to cope with the situation. They run out of water and have to travel dozens of kilometres to find more. This fire engine got stuck in the peat as the firefighters were looking for water.

Moving a tree from the road. Photo: Ilya Varlamov (zyalt)

Trees burn and fall onto the road. It is dangerous to get out of the car: the forest is burning and a tree can fall any moment. We pulled the tree to the side so that we could drive on.

In the village of Mokhovoye in Lukhovitskiy District, six locals and a fireman died. It looks like the aftermath of a war. There are animal corpses on the ground.

The police removed three corpses from a basement. People were trying to hide from the fire.

Europe

Russian forest fires: Your pictures

Share this page

Related Internet links

Services

About BBC News