A fire program was not implemented in the exclusion zone due to lack of funding - State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management
Kyiv • UNN
The comprehensive plan for restoring the fire safety system in the Chernobyl zone for 2021-2024 was not implemented due to a lack of funding. Currently, the exclusion zone has two forest fire stations and a State Emergency Service unit.
Following the large-scale fires in the Chernobyl zone in 2020, a comprehensive plan was approved to restore the fire safety system in the exclusion zone for 2021–2024. However, due to lack of funds, most of the planned measures were not implemented. This was announced by Mykhailo Baitala, Head of the Department for Ensuring the Barrier Function of the Exclusion Zone, Nature Reserve Fund, Radiation Safety, Labor Protection and Civil Protection of the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management, during a press conference, reports a correspondent of UNN.
After the (fire, -ed.) of 2020, we adopted an institution, looking at the order of the Cabinet of Ministers, which is called "Comprehensive Plan of Measures and Creation of Restoration of the Fire Safety System in the Territory of the Exclusion Zone and the Zone of Unconditional Mandatory Resettlement for 2021-2024". It was planned to allocate about 1.2 billion — 250 million each year in order to take measures… It (the resolution, -ed.) is not implemented due to lack of funding
According to him, the exclusion zone currently has two forest fire stations, as well as a SES unit, which is stationed directly in the zone. An additional fire station is being created on the territory of the reserve.
"With these forces we will extinguish fires. And for this we have done all the measures as much as possible: first - early detection, second - early effective reconnaissance and extinguishing at the initial stage. Third - a problematic issue, because ⅓ of the territory is mined. Therefore, the threat is much more complicated," Baitala added.