Pursuant to the initial data, 2133 ha area has burnt within the territory of Khosrov reserve, informed the Director of the Armenian branch of World Wildlife Fund Karen Manvelyan. As he stated, these are not the ultimate results, they wait for the fire to be fully extinguished to make calculations together with the specialists. Mr. Manvelyan told that they have been present in the area and the initial data of their mapping have 95% exactitude.
As depicted by the specialist, 555 ha of the burnt area is Khosrov section of the reserve, 2178 ha – Khachadzor sector. As Manvelyan informed, 201 ha of the burnt 2733 ha are the juniper sparse forests, 908 ha – broad-leaved forests which comprise mainly oaks and 1624 ha is the grass-covered area.
Manvelyan assured that the oak area will recover soon, few trees have suffered here, the trees will recover already in Spring: “Juniper forests appear to be the problem, dozens of years are needed for these to recover. Moreover, it is a reserve, people’s interference is banned, it is not permitted to plant anything, we should promote the natural conditions for them to grow. 201 ha of 900 ha of the junipers have burnt.”
Asked why the Ministry of Emergency Situations did not prepare in the forests in advance, when it had spread announcements before the fire burst implying that a high thermal background was to be expected and a dangerous situation for fire might have occurred, Mr. Manvelyan replied: “Weeks before the fire, the Ministry of Nature Protection had announced that they should set a 24 hour guarding in the specifically reserved territories, Khosrov forest encompassed, to be able to give a quick response in case of fire. The staff of Khosrov reserve had noticed the fire immediately, simply the landscape is a very hard one until they went from here to there, the fire had already spread.”
Mr. Manvelyan and the employees of the office have been at the place, they have returned yesterday night and have got acquainted with the situation by themselves. The specialist informed that Khosrov reserve comprises a large dry and grass-covered area and grass could not be mowed at all, there were grass areas grown during several years, when the grass was burning, a dry grass layer laid beneath it as well, the fire was developing fast and the junipers that are 500-years-old were burning quickly, forasmuch as they contain oils: “People could not do anything, approaching them was impossible, people did not have choice, from the other hand, the wind was disturbing. Machines of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were in place but because of the landscape they were not able to go upwards, the machines and equipment of MES were not appropriate for that area. MES does not have fire engines and taking the landscape and mountain forests of Armenia into consideration, it should have ones. For example, the helicopter of the Ministry of Defence came and spread water in Artavan, but it did not give a positive result, the helicopter was high, it was pouring water from a high distance and the water was not reaching the target, it was evaporating.That is, MES should have the respective equipment and a specialized pilot should work during such cases. Taking into consideration that climate change is gradually happening, the degrees get higher, the likelihood of fire situations increases, Armenia needs at least a firefighter plane, I do not say ones similar to Russian planes, but we can have its smaller type, I do not even say helicopters.”
Manvelyan told that he had discussed these questions with the Minister of Nature Protection.
Asked whether the animals have suffered, Mr. Manvelyan assured: “Big mammals have escaped for sure, they have not burnt, they are simply stressed. We were told that the puppy bear had come out and attacked the firefighters and the reserve staff, inasmuch as he had lost his mom, but they will find each other, as soon as the smoke disappears the puppy and the mom will find one another. The chamois, lynx and the gray bear will survive, now they have gone to the nearby areas. Probably the small ones have burnt, the rodents, reptiles, insects and rabbits as well.”
The specialist informed that this fire is an ecological disaster, forasmuch as the species of flora and fauna registered in International Red Book and the Red Book of Armenia have burnt, but their population will be normal.
Pursuant to the overview of the specialist the government should look over the nature protection policy again and take climate change into consideration, they build a few Hydroelectric Power Plants on rivers, this is impermissible, those rivers are taken into pipes and the microclimate is changing, the land is getting deeper, the humidity decreases, meanwhile rivers should flow by their stream: “We have no time, these issues are to be solved, the extent of ecological flows by those HPPs should be looked over again. We should think not of the fight against fire, but how to avoid of fires, the government should give a fast response to the issues.”
Nelly BABAYAN
