“The road is cut off”: eyewitnesses spoke about the realities of the fire in Abrau-Durso

“One was barely extinguished, the second blazed up”

Videos of forest fires between Abaru-Dyurso and Novorossiysk began to appear on the RuNet on Sunday around noon. After 4 hours, firefighters managed to overcome the fire that had captured one camp site, but another one immediately broke out.

Photo: Still from video

According to official information from the authorities, the fire occurred in the Sukha Shchel forest area (aka the Dyurso farmstead in the Krasnodar Territory, aka the 61st quarter of the Abrau-Dyurso forestry), soon after the fire was discovered, according to the Krasnodar Territory Ministry of Emergency Situations, the area of ​​the burning forest and grass on the section between Abrau and Novorossiysk increased to 3, and then to 10 hectares. And due to the crown fire (when the crowns of trees burn), the fire spread to the territory of the recreation center. Tourists in the amount of 220 people, including 40 children, were evacuated, all emergency services (42 specialists, 16 units of equipment) were sent to extinguish the flames. Locals and vacationers are asked to refrain from traveling in the direction of Sukha Shchel, so as not to impede the movement of equipment involved in extinguishing the fire. And here is how those who observed the fire with their own eyes describe the same thing.

“The “Romance” was just extinguished when the “Blue Wave” flared up (local tourist centers), say vacationers around Abrau-Durso, but now in Novorossiysk. — The fire is severe, the road is cut off, the entire base is on fire! The parking lot with cars is also on fire, everyone whose cars survived came here. And what now, we see only on social networks, you can’t go to Abrau now…

Meanwhile, in a thematic chat uniting fans of tourist centers between Abrau and Novorossiysk, a call appeared to male tourists: “We really need physical help! Gathering place recreation center «Romantic». Volunteers, pay attention to your equipment, clothing, shoes, equipment. Be sure to bring water and drinking water with you.”

There is also some good news, if such is even possible when everything around is on fire: firefighters rescued a little fox that was rushing about on the burning edge, not knowing how to escape from the fire. While there is no way to release him to a safe place, he sits in a fire truck. 

— Maly Utrish is burning near the checkpoint in Sukha Shchel, — eyewitnesses share. — You can see that houses and cars are burning. I wonder where so many people in cars came from? Who let them in and why? Even locals from Abrau-Dyurso weren't allowed into the base by car, only with special passes. But now all these resourceful tourists are blocked there until an indefinite time. There is no road from there, only if foresters allow them to drive through the reserve towards Anapa.

Meanwhile, those blocked at the base say that they have no way to leave. But the grass around them has already been extinguished from a helicopter.

— We have such black smoke covering everything, it's very difficult to breathe, houses are burning in the distance, and a helicopter is above us, — the hostages of the tourist base say.

By 16:00 the fire had already engulfed 20 hectares of forest, burning 6 wooden houses and 2 cars.

— Another elderly woman has disappeared, she went into the forest early in the morning to pick mushrooms, — they say at the tourist center. — But maybe the rescuers picked her up, it is not clear yet who is where. There is no official information about the victims yet.

— Usually seasoned tourists gather at the tourist centers, with backpacks, pots and guitars, and not the «sanatorium type», — says Lilia from Rostov, who was vacationing at one of the blazing tourist centers and is now in Novorossiysk. — But the smoke is so suffocating that even experienced ones have panic attacks.