Massive wildfire engulfs Bubnovka, Siberia declares state of emergency

At least 59 houses burned to the ground as massive fire engulfed Bubnovka village in Russia's Irkutsk Region on April 28, 2017. Although the settlement is located on an island, rescuers managed to save all residents before it burned to the ground.

Hundreds of people were trapped in the village surrounded by water as a massive fire was ripping through their homes. Luckily for some 435 residents, local Emergencies Ministry staff were conducting anti-flood drills in the area and rapidly reacted to the incident, RT reports.

Locals told Russian Emergency Ministry one of them was burning garbage near his house and the fire got out of control. "It spread in an instant and turned into a major fire due to strong winds. The fire also destroyed the buildings on the neighboring plot and moved into the forest," said Mikhail Osipov, head of Slyudyanskoye Fire and Rescue Department. 

Local media reported that the village was destroyed within just one hour. One of the residents said people ran out into the street half-naked… "we only had time to grab documents."

RT said the recent spread of wildfires in Siberia has prompted authorities to declare a state of emergency across the entire federal district. “We are introducing an emergency regime for all government bodies and forces of the Unified Russian System for Preventing and Eliminating Emergencies in the Siberian Federal District,” the head of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry, Vladimir Puchkov, announced Friday.

The state of emergency had already been declared in Irkutsk Region, as three separate areas of the region were suffering from massive wildfires.

Featured image credit: EMERCOM