"Last year was true misery for Sakhalin foresters. The sector experienced a natural and economic disaster. which will require years to recover from. The forests haven't suffered such catastrophic fires in 50 years". N.L. Kuznetsov Vice Governor, Head of Forest Management Department "Gubernskie Vedomosti" Newspaper, April 14, 1999

 

Introduction

Clearly, 80.8 thousand ha is a significant area for an island the size of Sakhalin. However, if we look at the local fire dynamic and at its coverage in the regional media, we can see that by late July alone, official numbers were considerably lower than the actual scale of the catastrophe.

According to visual estimates, fire covered over 5,000 ha in the area of Chamginsky Pass, of the upper and middle Chamga river, while officials from the Sakhalin Department of Federal Forest Service (further Sakhalin Forest Department) repeatedly stated that fire covered only 2,000-3,000 ha. Similar cases were reported in other regions. That is why publication of "The Year's Results" made the necessity of independent estimates of burnt areas and losses in Sakhalin and the Far East for the year of 1998.