Fires Surrounding Lake Baikal Growing Explosively, Coating Water And Swimmers With Ash

[hatrack]

Summer wildfires ignited in areas close to the vast Siberian lake at the height of the vacation season, causing breathing problems in some areas. Campers reported their tents and cars caked in ashes from the huge fires. Some 45 people were evacuated from the Baikal shore on Monday, and there are fears of dangers to people from bears fleeing the smoke towards the lake shore.

One man called Alexander reported: 'When we swam in Baikal on Saturday, we were all covered in ashes. Ash was floating in the water and on the water. In the morning we woke up, all the cars and tents were covered with ash too.' An anonymous local girl told Instagram: 'Today we were on Lake Baikal in Gremyachinsk. The sky is black from smoke, ash in the air. Scary. Firefighters run around - they probably need equipment and aircrafts, but they are not visible, and there are a lot of heat sources along the road. I have never witnessed such a scene... very scary.'

A tourist from Sarminsk Gorge wrote: 'Like in movies about the Apocalypse .... Some stones but no vegetation, all up in smoke. Burning forests of the Baikal region. We walked 7 km in one direction in thick smoke.'

Firebreak strips - to prevent the spread of flames - were rendered useless in strong winds. A cyclist said: 'On Syatoy Nos peninsula, forests are burning. Now we are 10 kilometres away from the fire. We can see both fire and smoke. Tomorrow the peninsula will be closed to visitors because of the disaster. Water is full of ash, after bathing it covers the body. The situation is terrible! They say that the bears went down (towards the lake shore) because of the fire.'



EDIT

http://siberiantimes.com/ecology/casestudy/news/n0350-worlds-deepest-lake-shrouded-in-smoke-swimmers-covered-in-ash/

[haikugal]

1. Oh how awful for everyone and thing...people, animals and Forrest!

The world is burning....