The Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Yerlan Nysanbayev, stated at a government meeting that many of the country's forestry institutions are not ready for the fire season.
According to Informburo.kz, forestries in nine regions are in a critical state, as is the "Semey Ormany" reserve. The situation is exacerbated by outdated equipment, a shortage of fire observation towers, and cuts to budget funding.
"As of April 7, the forestry institutions of the Aktobe, Atyrau, East Kazakhstan, Zhambyl, West Kazakhstan, Kostanay, Pavlodar, North Kazakhstan, and Turkestan regions, as well as the 'Semey Ormany' reserve, were not ready for the fire season," said the head of the department.
The Ministry of Ecology stated that in a number of regions, forestry enterprises are experiencing a severe shortage of serviceable firefighting equipment. Currently, 75 units of equipment are deemed faulty, including fire engines, tractors, and small forest firefighting complexes. Of the 314 fire engines at the disposal of forestries, 132 are subject to write-off, which constitutes 42% of the total fleet.
The department also identified a shortage of observation infrastructure: while there is a need for 256 fire observation towers, only 185 exist nationwide. The minister described the situation in the Pavlodar, Kostanay, West Kazakhstan, Aktobe, and North Kazakhstan regions as critical.
It is reported that the total funding for equipping forestry enterprises for 2023-2027 amounts to 68 billion tenge. Funding from the republican budget has been cut due to the deficit from 8.7 billion to 3.1 billion tenge.
As an alternative source of funding, the Ministry of Ecology proposed allocating additional funds for equipping forest protection institutions through the recycling fee.
"For the equipping of forestries, 35 billion tenge is provided through leasing. Since the beginning of the year, 136 small forest firefighting complexes and 60 tractors worth 3.7 billion tenge have been delivered for the ministry's institutions. By the end of June, the delivery of the remaining 166 fire engines, 27 small forest firefighting complexes, and 15 tractors worth 11.3 billion tenge is expected. This year, regional akimats allocated 6.3 billion tenge from the local budget for equipping forestries, and 20 billion tenge through leasing. By the end of the year, it is planned to purchase 186 fire engines, 186 small forest firefighting complexes, and 247 tractors worth 26.3 billion tenge for the akimats' forestries," Nysanbayev reported.
These measures are expected to allow for the renewal and full equipping of forestry enterprises in the 11 most fire-prone regions of the country.
It will be recalled that on April 10, expert Kirill Pavlov reported on his Telegram channel about a fire south of the village of Kyrykkudyk near Stepnogorsk, where about 5,000 hectares of steppe were burned.
On the same day, Pavlov reported on a fire near the borders of the "Semey Ormany" reserve in the Abai region. Satellites recorded thermal points classified as anomalous. Previously, the Ministry of Emergency Situations had indicated fire sources 50–70 km from the actual locations of the fires.
On April 11, the expert published a post about a fire 7 km from the village of Aisary in the Akzhar district of the North Kazakhstan region, emphasising that this was not an accident but a consequence of systemic problems in responding to emergency situations. Satellite images from March 29 and April 9 recorded the development of the fire, however, according to the author, the authorised structures did not take timely measures.