Fire in the Utrish nature reserve: eyewitnesses described shocking details

Novye Izvestia has already given a detailed response to the Kuban authorities, claiming that the Utrish reserve near Anapa burned down due to the fault of tourists living there for the “savages”. The fact that this is a clear and deliberate lie is said by these tourists themselves, among whom were journalists from Moscow publications. Here is what they wrote on social media about this tragedy.

Media manager Nina Livanova considers this event a personal tragedy:

“The arson of Utrish. Five explosions. How many years officials have coveted him, and now...

Utrish died. Unique juniper reserve. Raccoons, turtles, parrots, Roach's mouse-tailed dormice, scops owls and the forest burned all night... All the lagoons have already burned down. Nothing left. At the moment, the fire is extinguished by one helicopter. This is the tragedy for me personally and for my entire family..."

Journalist Vitaly Kavtaradze also responded to this event extremely emotionally:

“They killed our best friend, Utrish Nature Reserve. Monsters burned paradise.

The fire broke out at noon, high in the mountains. We heard five explosions in a section about 2 kilometers long. One of them occurred a few tens of meters away from me, on a steep mountainside, when I flooded millennial junipers with sea water. This is definitely arson.

Utrish, forgive people. We left, but we won't allow another government dacha on your slopes. We will live a thousand years, growing your junipers..."

Journalist Maria Sotskaya, who took part in saving the reserve, writes from the scene:

“IMPORTANT: the fire on Utrish was not started by vacationers!!! This is a sabotage from the outside, around the reserve has long been a war for land by the sea. I'm afraid the decisive battle is lost, but the war is still ahead !!!

Lies spread faster than fire, the Ministry of Emergency Situations presses the airwaves with its press releases. My friends still remain in the reserve, who are going to follow this up to the end on the spot.

This is hell. People are evacuated at their own expense on the only old boat.

We almost died, it was almost certainly arson, Vic heard the explosions, he was on the front line and extinguished the fire. I carried water.

It's like the sound of an airplane taking off

The fire in the state natural reserve Utrishsky began at about noon. Tourists and huntsmen who were resting in the protected areas rushed to extinguish it, the first employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations appeared only after a little over four hours. Police officers put forward a version of arson.

Most of the people vacationing in the protected areas were on the beach. Here, on Utrish, a nudist culture is developed, and for many decades the reserve and "naked-ass hippies" have been living in relative peace. But today the general complacency and consent was destroyed by a cry from the mountain: "We are on fire, fire, build in chains and drag water".

The beach and the campground behind it instantly looked like a beehive. Hundreds of plastic bottles appeared out of nowhere, people threw them from the cliff to the water, while others immediately picked up and handed them along a chain lined up, as if in the army on command. And above the mountain, I saw a brown fire flag.

Quite quickly, it took a lot more hands to extinguish than to draw water. And I, like many other volunteers with bottles of water, reached higher up the mountain. It is difficult to say how long we walked and how fast, but soon we lined up in a new line on a steep cliff, from where stones were constantly crumbling. Not only they flew down, but also empty bottles of water, and the worst thing - coals.

Fresh water for drinking was sorely lacking. Towards lunchtime, helicopters began to circle in the sky, but they were without water and seemed completely indifferent to the common trouble. All this time the fire raged on the slopes, but did not come close to the tent camp, it even seemed that the "bare-assed hippies" would be able to hold back the elements.

The elderly nudist who stood next to me looked extremely exhausted, we were almost at the very fire. He was barefoot, his loincloth turned into a protective mask from the smoke. The trouble came from below. Apparently, the fallen coal set fire to the forest right next to the camp.

The chain urgently began to rebuild, I was called downstairs to extinguish a new hearth. In the camp, someone was still trying to extinguish the approaching flame, someone was crying, someone was looking for their relatives, children. There were also those who tried to collect their belongings.

The forest fire along Utrish moved very quickly. The sound of the expanding flame is similar to that of a bomber taking off. Someone next to me even happily exclaimed “the planes have arrived”, but alas, the first helicopters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were still far away.

When the first units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations appeared, I was already almost unconscious on the beach on the mountain of hastily collected things. Some of them I left to fend for themselves. Soon we managed to find in the crowd Vitaly Kavtaradze, a photojournalist of Novaya, he was one of the first to rush to put out the fire and was in the very heat.

Now, already at night, the forest in the mountains is on fire again. There is almost no one to extinguish it, the Emergencies Ministry officers who arrived only by five in the evening were valiantly fighting the fire only until sunset. Now the Cossacks have landed on the shore, according to their own words, they are going to put out the fire all night and hold back the fire.

While some of the Emergencies Ministry employees were working in the mountains, our photojournalist Vitaly Kavtaradze tried to photograph the leaders of the extinguishing on the shore. In response to this, Yarosh A.V, who did not name his position (judging by the badge), threatened to "dig in the woods", began to rudely repulse the correspondent, and the Emergencies Ministry employee in a fighting jacket with numbers 60-9 tried to take away the phone and throw it into the sea. Vitaly is already filing a statement with the police.

By the way, the police officers who arrived after the Ministry of Emergency Situations first of all put forward a version of arson in the reserve. And they even began to carry water to the mountains themselves.

Once again: every word of propaganda in the media about Utrish is a lie. The Ministry of Emergency Situations arrived 5 hours after the start of the fire, all this time half-naked hippies, including myself, were fighting the fire. We dragged water up the mountain, knocked down the flames with sapper blades and practically extinguished the centuries-old juniper trees with our hands, of which now only coals and memories remained. By the evening, two helicopters appeared, they spilled the area a little, but by nightfall the fire broke out with renewed vigor. Around midnight, Vitalik and I decided to evacuate in a small boat, of course, at our own expense. From burning, soot and fatigue, we fell off our feet, our friends practically pushed us into the boat. Nobody carried out any centralized evacuation. From the sea there was a "beautiful view" of the dying mountains. I saw how the fire devours the once green mountains. The main version is arson, people heard explosions. There is no forgiveness for those who have done evil.

The captain of the boat, who took us out solely on his own initiative, is being prosecuted for this very export. Yes, he did it for money. But does a person need to at least pay for gasoline? And not everyone paid. Lawlessness and dishonor. First they set us on fire, then they left us to the mercy of fate, and now they are looking for the guilty..."

The journalist Vitaly Kavtaradze sums up the disappointing results:

“I just realized that I could have inadvertently contributed to journalistic dishonor and Russian crooked justice. I'm talking about the alleged "paid evacuation" from the burning Utrish, about which a check is now being instituted.

Utrish is the land of the free. This is the "world of the wild west", a place where you can be whoever you want and can. It is the home of the strongest independent people who are capable of collective action without the slightest involvement of the state and institutions. If a thief sneaks into the lagoons, he will be caught and expelled in a few hours. If someone breaks his leg at night, complete strangers will carry him out in his arms. When the forest is on fire, the Utrishans rush to the fire more organized and faster than the best firefighters.

These people do not need a mother in the form of a state who will save them from trouble. None of the Utrishans stuttered about "evacuation". We ourselves will leave, whoever cannot leave will be reported. We will pay 300 rubles for a boat to a person who has repeatedly helped out with an extra flight. If someone has no money, they will pay for him.

But the Emergencies Ministry needs evacuation, but not in the form of boats and helicopters, but on paper. Indeed, according to their version, children are dying on the lagoons, who never step without the firm hand of the civil service. Here are just a firm hand somewhere along the way went on a spree, and the report is not asleep. Let's say that we chartered a private trader, and he, bastard, takes the money. This is how the myth of the dishonest "paid evacuation" appeared.

What happened?

All daylight, while most of the Utrishans were extinguishing the fire, it was impossible to reach the boats. They were chartered for the needs of the Ministry of Emergencies. According to my observations, most of the time the boats dangled in the bay at the ready.

One friend of mine threw up her leg badly when she stumbled with bottles on a slope. It was possible to put her on the boat in 3 hours. Another girl had a high temperature all day. At sunset, I helped her carry her backpack and hold the departing boat near the shore. The captain shouted: "We are not taking civilians, none, on this flight MChSniki are sailing to Bolshoi Utrish." This captain could not return anymore - he was not given a license for night transportation. Marina waited for the boat for another 4 hours, until midnight.

The only ship whose captain either could or risked sailing at night was Utrishonok. This is the slowest and oldest boat in the lagoons. Its owner never in his life held the sovereign's money in his hands - at the beginning of the season he bought a license for almost all of his money, repaired and refueled the ship, fighting for 300 rubles per passenger. Last night he didn’t raise the price, but he couldn’t walk for free until 9 am.

Now the prosecutor's office will check the fact of the "paid evacuation" for which the state did not pay a single ruble, and which was needed only by the Ministry of Emergencies on paper.

If anything, Utrish will keep the captain behind.

While the memory is fresh, and all the federal news on Utrish have been read, I will list all the lies in fact:

1) No, the fire did not start because of an unextinguished hearth on the "Helicopter" (anchorage at an altitude of 100 m and 800 m from the coast). At about 19-20 hours a small group and I made the last attempt to extinguish, the "helicopter" was not affected by the flame.

2) No, the fire clearly did not develop from one source. At the beginning, about 5 separate foci were distinguished, which appeared with a small interval on a line of 2 km.

3) The fire, of course, was not "grassroots, affecting 4 hectares." It was a horse fire, like from stories about Australia or California. Together with 5 other people, I poured fire on the southern part of the slope of Kobylka, we managed to take everything under weak control. Then in 50-100 meters there was an explosion, and a firestorm came over us. They barely carried their feet.

4) No, the Ministry of Emergency Situations did not have any 200 people and 40 pieces of equipment (unless you count the firefighter's pants as equipment). They arrived 4-5 hours after the start of the fire, on a boat that carries tourists. About 30 people. We put two pumps with fire-hoses on the shore, somehow shedding a path. 5-10 firefighters worked on the slopes with hand sprays, into the backpacks of which we poured water we brought ourselves.

5) There were no two helicopters for sure, he was alone, made 8-9 approaches and disappeared.

6) Naturally, no Ministry of Emergency Situations organized the evacuation. All the holidaymakers were taken out by the same katerists who had freed themselves from the Emergencies Ministry's asses after sunset. Many left on foot.

7) Of course, no ambulance was on duty there, in the village of Bolshoy Utrish about 22-23 hours there was not a single carriage.

Dear Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Emergencies and Comrades, and other "eccentrics" in power. We all, of course, understand that you need to cover your ass, especially when you put on peas. And even more so if the bad uncles brought it in before. But from the fact that something is written in press releases and reports, it will not become a fact. Actually, the difference between reality and a report is an accurate metric of incompetence.

What happened: 2000 people organized themselves into a chain about a kilometer long in 5-10 minutes, transferring water to the mountains for 300 meters. 5 hours of extinguishing coals, burying grass and ash, mutual assistance in collecting. All this was done by hippies, Shaivites, Hare Krishnas, drummers, artists who jumped out of the beach.

By the way, when we were already leaving by boat, a group of middle-aged civilians "mattress" who came to the lagoons to drink and did not lift a single bottle into the mountains, continued to drink with laughter..."