Forest fires dynamics during the Covid-19 pandemic (on the example the Volga Federal District, Russian Federation)

Abstract

Covid-19 it is a new problem of modern society that has changed the usual way of life and has made both negative and positive changes. The introduction of restrictions due to Covid affected and on the distribution of forest fires both within a year and between years. The analysis of works has shown that anthropogenic activity plays a major role in forest fire incidences. In this worked statistical data of forest fires in one of the Russia federal districts (Volga Federal District) in 2019 (during the period without Covid) and 2020 (period with Covid) years are analyzed. Such subjects as Perm Territory (high forest cover – 71,5 %), the Orenburg Oblast (low forest cover – 4,7%) and Republic of Bashkortostan (leader in the number of forest fires) have been studied in detail. The results showed that during the most fire-hazardous season in Russia, April-May, namely during the beginning of Covid-19, the number of forest fires significantly decreased due to restrictions on the people movement. But, with the weakening of the self-isolation mode and the onset of an abnormally hot summer, the number of fires has increased. Thus, anthropogenic activity plays an important role in the occurrence of forest fires in this region.