Ukrainian firefighters are fighting a fire on Sunday, declared in the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the scene of the largest atomic catastrophe in history.
The fire, which has occurred in a wooded area near the village of Vladimirovka, has an area of 20 hectares, although for the most part it has already been stifled, emergency services reported.
Due to the extent of the fire, the authorities have mobilized seaplanes, which have already poured 50 thousand liters of water on the fire. Radiation makes emergency services difficult, although local authorities report that levels are normal. A hundred people participate in the extinction work in the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the plant.
In 2017, Ukrainian emergency services had to stifle a smoke from the third reactor, closed in December 2000. In recent months, the number of tourists visiting the area has soared, reaching 75,000 visitors attracted by extreme tourism and the television series “Chernobyl”.
At the end of 2016, the installation of the sarcophagus on the damaged fourth reactor was completed, the largest mobile structure ever built, which guarantees the safety of the enclosure over the next hundred years.
According to official assessments, the explosion that occurred in the early hours of April 26, 1986 at the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl plant spread up to 200 tons of material with a radioactivity of 50 million curies, equivalent to 500 atomic bombs like the one released in Hiroshima.
