Already half a month residents of the village Tokma live in a state of full combat readiness in dense smog, very close to burning 16 thousand hectares of taiga. In the village there are 49 people, mostly pensioners, but they simply have nowhere to run, the village is surrounded on all sides by an impenetrable thicket, the nearest settlement is located in 200 kilometers.

Last week, the fire got close, it was stopped three kilometers from Tokma. If the situation worsens, people will have to evacuate. And after all at all here not only houses, but also the cattle.

It was not easy to stop the fire. Helicopter protection helped. "The bulldozer was driven off. Dug in. The Ministry of. Now we are extinguishing, "- says the senior instructor-paratrooper of the fire group FBU" Avialesoohrana "Alexander Asenko. In extinguishing the fire involved more than a hundred fire fighters. Lucky and with the weather, there are rains. However, they extinguish the fire, but only extinguish. After the departure of the cyclone, everything that smolder, can flare up with renewed vigor. The terrain here is difficult to traverse, it is not always possible to use heavy equipment and aircraft. Even fire breaks often have to be done manually. There are no suitable lakes for taking water with B-200 airplanes. The Gulfs are also far away.

Where do such fires begin? The inspector of the airborne command of the FBU "Avialesoohrana" Mikhail Tretyakov says that in 90% of cases the people themselves are to blame. The remaining 10% are thunderstorms.

In Katangsky district there are strategic mining operations. They do not threaten the fire, but the oil workers did not stand aside, the Irkutsk oil company allocated 3 TTM, 6 bulldozers, the Vityaz all-terrain vehicle to fight the fire, which makes the transfer of equipment. To extinguish the fire of Irkutsk nature and weather left very little time for people. Soon the northern taiga will recede, the fire will transfer to the peat bogs. Then it will be impossible to stop it until winter.