On Wednesday morning, 8th October, nearly all left bank of Kyiv was in smoke. A burn smell could be felt even in Posnyaki district. At first people thought there was a forest fire. In any case, at the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine they said, that they’ve got a call about 8:30am about the fire in the forest area next to the cemetery on Volkova Street. But then it became known that the fire has started on sludge fields of Bortnychi Aeration Station where sewage is cleaned (near Gnedin village, Boryspil district, Kyiv region).

Versions: 1. “Arson or careless handling of fire caused the incident. There are hunting grounds near the sludge fields,” they said in “Kyivvodokanal”. At the Bortnychi Forestry they assure it is not their fault. “One of the sites was sold to a private person, who decided to … burn a peat bog. Probably, the fire spread out to the fields of aeration “, they’ve told at the forestry. 2. Violation of fire safety regulations at the Bortnychi Aeration Station.

Toxic: According to the ecologist Alexei Vasiljuk the danger is that there are chemical elements on the fields, the burning of which is dangerous for health! He says that because of the fire, these chemical elements broadcast into the air dioxin and hundreds of other chemical compounds. Inhalation of these fumes could damage the lungs, blood, liver, and moreover it is the strongest carcinogen, which generates cancer cells. Kyiv citizens, particularly residents of the Left Bank, advised not to spend less time outside and not to open the windows, but cover them with wet sheets. On the 7th October, rescuers said, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction from Kyiv, but Kyiv residents still complained of burning eyes, face and feeling unwell. It is quite hard to extinguish a fire, because it is very difficult to find its epicenter, as sludge fields spread out for about 15 thousand square kilometers. “Condition of sludge fields is very poor and peat is a real fuel that will be smoking for a long time”, – explained Fedor Sudnitsyn (Kyivvodokanal). Segodnya.ua
But at the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine they claim that you could the smoke safely and deeply breathe in smoke of the Bortnychi station.
Kyivvodocanal Company expects to put out the smoldering peat on sludge fields of Bortnychi Aeration Station (BAS) until October 12. They mentioned that peat is smoldering at a depth of 4 meters on one of the sludge fields (an area of about 160 hectares). General director of Kyivvodocanal Yaroslav Filatov noted that there is no epidemiological and environmental danger in the smoldering peat, but when the wind is blowing to Kiev direction, citizens may feel unpleasant smells and visually observe the smoke. As the fields of BAS exist for natural cleaning of sewage waste and contain a lot of chemicals, their burning under an open air may cause some harmful emissions to the atmosphere.

In turn, the General Administratione of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Population Protection from Consequences of Chernobyl Catastrophe in Kyiv said that there was no threat to the health of citizens. According to them, on Thursday, October, 8th, officials of Sanitary Epidemiological Station of Darnytsa district in Kiev region and the staff of the chemical units of Ministry of Emergencies in Kiev have made some tests of the air near the fireside, and found that the concentration of harmful chemicals in the air is within acceptable limits.

Popularity: 3% [?]