A forest fire has been burning in the Chernobyl exclusion zone for a second day. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said strong wind and mines in some areas are complicating firefighting efforts.
According to rescuers, the fire has spread across more than 1,100 hectares, or 11 square kilometers. By comparison, the entire exclusion zone covers 2,600 square kilometers.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said the radiation situation in the country remains within normal limits.
The fire broke out in the southern part of the exclusion zone, southeast of Chernobyl, where pine forests planted 40 to 60 years ago are located, environmental expert Oleksandr Sokolenko told TSN.ua. He said this is not the most contaminated section of the zone: the highest radiation levels are recorded in the north, near Pripyat.
Sokolenko said the blaze is difficult to contain because the region has gone a long time without rainfall. At the same time, he said precipitation is expected in the Kyiv region on Sunday, May 10, and there is a chance the fire may begin to subside naturally.
Is there a radiation threat?
In a comment to Novaya Gazeta Europe, Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of the environmental group Ecodefense!, said a significant amount of radiation is concentrated in the Chernobyl zone not only in the soil, but also in trees and in anything else that can burn. That means, he said, radionuclides enter the air and spread during a fire.
“There will be a repeat spread of radiation, possibly to areas that had been considered relatively clean. To say how far and in which direction, you need to know which way the wind is blowing and over what territory the fire will spread,” the expert said.
Slivyak recalled that a similar situation occurred in Russia in 2010, when abnormally hot weather caused radioactive-contaminated forests in the Bryansk region to catch fire. He added that the authorities never reported which territory was subjected to repeat contamination.
At the same time, Sokolenko believes the risk of radiation contamination in Kyiv is low: the fire began in a comparatively less contaminated part of the zone, and more than 40 years have passed since the Chornobyl nuclear power plant accident. Still, he stressed that the fire poses risks to the environment, since much of the Chernobyl zone is part of a biosphere reserve with valuable natural ecosystems.