Fire burns two hectares of Borjomi forest
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, August 22
The forest territory in the village of Daba in the Borjomi Municipality (which burnt down during the 2008 Russia-Georgia war), caught fire for the second time on Sunday and destroyed around two hectares of forest.
Georgia’s National Forest Agency reports that the cleanup efforts of the paths heading to the fire were underway all night long. A road was paved from the village of Kvibisi deep into the forest so firefighting units can now easily reach the area.
A helicopter was also used during fire extinguishing operations from Monday morning.
The Agency added that the fire mainly burnt territory covered by bushes adding that fresh forest areas have not been touched by the fire.
Around 200 firefighters were working at the site all Sunday night and resumed their work early on Monday. At present, the fire is mainly localized.
Minister of Internal Affairs, Giorgi Mgebrishvili, arrived in Borjomi at the scene of the fire. He personally supervised fire localization efforts.
“If natural conditions help us, the fire will be totally extinguished in several hours…more than 200 firemen worked last night…they worked effectively but wind promoted the fire to spread around,” he said.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has already begun an investigation under Article 187 on damage to property.
Last month, Arjevanidze forest near the Tsagveri resort, 20 km from Borjomi in south-eastern Georgia in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, also caught fire. Around 1,000 square meters of forest was destroyed by the fire.
In 2008, a fire destroyed around 80 hectares of Borjomi forest, after which Georgia’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources began work on the Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.
