Organization of the Activities of the Police Units in Case of an Emergency Caused by Forest Fires

Gol'chevskii Vitalii Feliksovich PhD in Technical Science Lecturer at the Department of Tactical and Special Training of the East-Siberian Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia 664074, Russia, Irkutskaya oblast', g. Irkutsk, ul. Lermontova, 110 GVF.65@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The huge forests covering the territory of our country are not only a national treasure and a source of fresh air, but also a means of replenishing the state treasury, therefore, they require constant care and protection from the state.

Citizens, subject to the rules of fire safety in forests, have the right to freely and free of charge stay in forests, to collect and harvest nuts, berries, mushrooms and other wild plants for their own needs. Any visit to the forest for a period of time, let's say more than 4-5 hours, according to the physiological needs of a person, is associated with eating, and this often leads to the building of bonfires or the use of open fire sources. In this regard, it would be appropriate to recall the words of the Russian writer L. M. Leonov: "Forests adorn the earth... They teach a person to understand the beautiful and inspire him with a majestic mood. It is necessary to protect the forest not from fire, but from man" ^[1].

In accordance with the Forest Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the LC RF), one of the main tasks of ensuring the protection of forests from fires is the organization and conduct of preventive work aimed at preventing the occurrence of forest fires, their timely detection at the initial moment of occurrence, creating conditions for limiting the spread and successful extinguishing ^[2].

Protection from fires of forests included in the forest fund of the Russian Federation includes a set of organizational and legal measures aimed at preserving forests, protecting them from damage and other negative impacts, carried out taking into account their bioecological characteristics.

Forest protection measures are developed and carried out under the direct control of the Government of the Russian Federation, state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the federal forestry management body and its territorial bodies. It should be noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin pays special attention to the protection of the forest fund from fires. On June 15 of this year, the head of state signed a decree on combating forest fires: "In order to significantly reduce the area of forest fires, I decree to the Government of the Russian Federation, together with senior officials of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, to ensure a reduction in the area of forest fires on forest fund lands in 2022-2030 by at least 50 percent relative to the level of 2021." In this document, special importance is attached to the issue of rapid response to the facts of forest fires: "The share of forest fires on forest fund lands liquidated within the first day from the moment of detection in the total number of forest fires on forest fund lands will be 100 percent" ^[3].

Timely detection of a fire in a forest area and immediate measures taken to extinguish it are a success in eliminating this emergency situation and do not allow it to get out of control, any delay increases the likelihood of causing huge material damage that requires significant financial costs to eliminate the consequences of this disaster.

I would like to note the well-organized work on monitoring the forest fire situation in the Moscow region in the hot August of 2022. The skillful use of small aircraft to detect fires in forests in combination with the involvement of ground fire fighting equipment for rapid extinguishing did not allow any fire to develop to large sizes, all of them were eliminated at the initial stage of occurrence.

A set of practical measures aimed at preventing, detecting and extinguishing forest fires is entrusted to forestry enterprises and state forest protection. Of course, the implementation of the entire complex of measures to protect forests from fires is very difficult for forestry enterprises alone. It is necessary to develop in advance a plan of basic measures aimed at ensuring the protection of forests from fires, with the involvement of various services of ministries and departments, both at the stage of preventive work and when extinguishing forest fires. A special role in the organization of preventive work to prevent the occurrence of forest fires and partly in extinguishing should be assigned to the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

Taking into account all the difficulties and financial costs that arise when extinguishing forest fires, it is safe to say that the primary task in the complex of measures to protect forests from fires is forest fire prevention, which includes measures aimed at preventing the occurrence of forest fires, limiting the scale of their development and creating conditions for successful extinguishing.

Speaking about preventive work to prevent forest fires, it should be noted that 90% of forest fires are caused by the human factor ^[4]. There is a lot of talk about various causes of forest fires, such as, for example, focusing the sun's rays with glass bottles thrown in the forest or dry thunderstorms ^{[5; 6]}. Abandoned bottles and dry thunderstorms took place during the Soviet Union, but such a terrifying situation with forest fires as in the modern period has never been observed. There is one conclusion: the cause of forest fires is deliberate arson with the aim of further theft of forest resources ^[7].

In this regard, fire prevention in forests and preventive measures developed in accordance with the LC of the Russian Federation and the Rules of Fire Safety in the Forests of the Russian Federation alone are unlikely to improve the situation. We need a set of tough measures aimed at protecting forest resources and bringing to justice malicious violators, and, without exaggeration, the divisions of the internal affairs bodies of our country should make an invaluable contribution to this good cause.

Let's consider the specifics of the activities of the ATS units in emergency situations caused by forest fires, using the example of the GU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Irkutsk region.

In accordance with the order of the Ministry of Forestry of the Irkutsk region, the fire-hazardous period in the Irkutsk Region in 2021 lasted from April 17 to October 10.

In the initial period of time, the State Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Irkutsk region organized interaction with all interested federal structures of the region and the Government of the Irkutsk Region on issues of ensuring the protection of public order and the safety of citizens during emergencies due to forest fires.

To organize measures to monitor the operational situation, coordinate the actions of units in case of emergencies during the forest fire season, coordinate the actions of units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Irkutsk region and territorial bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia at the district level of the Irkutsk region to respond to the threat of emergencies in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Irkutsk region, a working group was created to collect and generalization of information about the fire—hazardous situation in the region (head - Head of the Operational Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Irkutsk region).

Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and other units of the internal affairs bodies of the region took part in two command and staff exercises:

— From March 22 to March 24 — to eliminate the consequences of emergencies related to wildfires, under the leadership of the Governor of the Irkutsk region. The events involved 28 police officers and 9 pieces of equipment;

— from April 13 to April 15 — to eliminate wildfires and ensure trouble-free passage of the spring flood, as well as the elimination of man-made emergencies in the region. 16 employees and 6 pieces of equipment were involved in the events.

Together with the territorial divisions of the OGPN of the EMERCOM of Russia in the Irkutsk region, preventive measures were carried out to identify and suppress unauthorized annealing of grass, burning of garbage and household waste in settlements and forests (up to 150 police officers and up to 50 pieces of equipment were involved daily; up to 15 joint interdepartmental groups). To coordinate the activities, meetings of the operational headquarters of the Government of the Irkutsk region on the forest fire situation were held daily. To eliminate the consequences of emergencies caused by forest fires, according to the calculation of forces and means from the GU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, 3,268 police officers and 574 pieces of equipment were sent to the GU of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia in the Irkutsk region.

During the entire fire season of 2021 (from April 17 to October 10), 590 forest fires were registered in the region on an area of 461 thousand 367.9 hectares.

The causes of 65% of forest fires were: natural factors, the fault of the local population — 27%, linear objects (power lines, railways and highways, pipelines and other linear objects) — 8%.

Since the beginning of the fire-hazardous period, 7 thousand 44 patrol groups have been created to organize preventive work, 1 thousand 471 of which functioned jointly with the Ministry of Forestry of the Irkutsk region, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia in the Irkutsk region and other interested departments.

Access to the forests of 1 thousand 100 citizens and 470 units of vehicles has been suppressed.

In order to clarify the inadmissibility of kindling bonfires and violations of fire safety rules, more than 80 thousand 267 preventive conversations with the population were conducted, 71 thousand 545 campaign materials were distributed.

41 publications in the mass media have been prepared to clarify responsibility for violation of fire safety rules.

Employees of the internal affairs bodies of the region during preventive measures revealed 366 administrative offenses under Chapter 8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (hereinafter — the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation):

— according to Article 8.2 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation — 22 (non-compliance with environmental and sanitary-epidemiological requirements when handling production and consumption waste);

— according to Article 8.28 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation — 16 (illegal logging of forest delights);

— according to Part 5 of Article 8.28.1 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation — 130 (transportation of wood without an accompanying document issued in accordance with the procedure established by forest legislation);

— according to Article 8.31 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation — 61 (violation of the rules of sanitary safety in forests);

— according to Article 8.32 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation — 137 (violation of fire safety rules in forests).

According to the results of the consideration of cases of administrative offenses, 235 fines were imposed in the amount of 2 million 988 thousand rubles.

434 administrative offenses provided for in Part 1-7 of Article 20.4 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (violation of fire safety requirements) were revealed. Preventive work has been organized with persons previously held criminally and administratively liable for violations in the field of forest management.

As part of the preventive work during the forest fire period, three adults and three minors were identified as arsonists of dry vegetation.

9 criminal cases were initiated on the facts of forest fires, including under Part 1 of Article 261 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter — the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) — 3; under Part 2 of Article 261 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — 5; under Part 4 of Article 261 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — 1. This year, 2 of them have been sent to court, 1 has been suspended for failure to identify the person to be brought as an accused, 1 has been terminated due to the statute of limitations, 5 cases are in production.

The search for the perpetrators of the deliberate arson of the forest and proving their guilt is a very complex process. The investigation of criminal cases of forest fires is due to the difficulty in establishing the source of the fire, the destruction of many traces and material evidence ^[8].

A clear example of the punishment that the violator faces for intentionally setting fire to the forest can be a criminal case initiated under Part 2 of Article 261 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation upon the discovery of a forest fire No. 12 on 05/19/2021 at 13:30 in allotments 9, 10, block 11 of the Kuznetsovskaya dacha of the Vikhorevsky district forestry of the Bratsky Forestry (9.3 km from the city of Vikhorevka). The damage from the fire amounted to 1 million 129 thousand 289.24 rubles (25.06.2021 the criminal case was sent with an indictment to the court. By a court decision of 15.07.2021, citizen "N" was sentenced to a term of 1 year and 6 months of probation). I do not take upon myself the responsibility to judge whether this measure of punishment is sufficient for such a crime. A lot of attention has been paid to this issue in a number of scientific papers. In particular, O.Y. Maslova, A.A. Makarova note that the responsibility borne by the culprit does not contribute to the restoration of lost forest plantations and does not fully compensate for the damage to the environment. In this regard, it is extremely important to develop effective criminal legal measures aimed at preventing the commission of a crime under Part 3 of Article 261 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. ^[9] There is certainly a tendency to tighten responsibility for intentional destruction of forests by arson^[10].

Along with preventive measures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Irkutsk region, in cooperation with law enforcement and regulatory authorities, a set of measures was carried out to curb illegal logging, to bring perpetrators to criminal responsibility. Employees of the UEBiPK GU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia to provide practical assistance to operational units of territorial internal affairs bodies in solving crimes of this category in 2021 carried out 168 trips with a total duration of 1,267 days.

In 2021, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, in cooperation with interested structures and departments, carried out 498 raid measures, during which 210 illegal logging was stopped, 355 crimes were solved, of which 171 were of a serious category. 379 persons were brought to the internal affairs bodies of the region to establish involvement in the commission of crimes, procedural coercion measures were applied against 34 suspects, 14 were subsequently detained and house arrest.

In general, the number of illegal logging in the Irkutsk region has been reduced by 46%. The damage from illegal logging activities was reduced by 50% and amounted to more than 1.2 billion rubles.

The number of unsolved crimes under Article 260 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has been reduced by 31% (from 1,381 to 955), including for serious crimes — by 34% (from 1,114 to 731).

As a result, the detection rate of crimes related to illegal logging of forest plantations increased and amounted to 27%.

Work was carried out on documenting organized criminal activity in the field of forestry, bringing organizers and participants to criminal responsibility, 89 criminal cases were sent to court as part of 7 organized criminal groups (hereinafter — organized criminal groups) against 42 participants.

In addition, a complex of operational search and investigative actions was carried out to identify, suppress and investigate corruption crimes committed by officials of the authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation, as well as subordinate institutions and enterprises authorized in the field of forest relations.

During the implementation of the materials of operational investigative activities, 13 criminal cases on bribes in the field of forestry were initiated. Among them are 3 criminal cases under Part 3 and Part 5 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation against the head of the forestry department of the territorial administration of the Ministry of Forestry of the Irkutsk region, who received bribes totaling 540 thousand rubles from two individual entrepreneurs for facilitating the preparation and illegal provision of contracts for the sale of forest plantations for the own needs of citizens (firewood harvesting), under the guise of which the wood was harvested and later sold.

According to Part 3 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, 4 criminal cases were initiated against an official of one of the forest districts for general patronage of persons engaged in illegal logging activities on the territory of this forestry. Also, 5 criminal cases were initiated against bribe-givers under Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, one criminal case against an intermediary in the transfer of a bribe under Article 291.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In cooperation with the government of the region, the forestry authorities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia organized the receipt of information on the receipt and disbursement of funds aimed at the implementation of national projects in the field of the timber industry.

Two facts of embezzlement by officials of one of the branches of the Forestry Enterprise of the Irkutsk region of funds allocated within the framework of the national project "Ecology" of the regional project "Conservation of Forests" for reforestation were established.

In total, 83 crimes were detected in the economic sphere, of which 50 were committed on a large and especially large scale, 58 were of a serious category, including 17 officials, 24 were of a corruption orientation.

As part of the closure of sales channels, the activities of organized criminal groups with a total of 2 participants who committed the smuggling of timber in the amount of over 681 million rubles were suppressed. In September 2021, 10 criminal cases (5 — under Article 226.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, 5 — under Article 191.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) were sent to court with signs of organized crime.

In total, 24 criminal cases were initiated for smuggling across the customs border, provided for in Article 226.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

During the inspections of the commercial activities of the points of reception and shipment of wood, 10 criminal cases were initiated under Article 191.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Employees of the traffic police of the Department of Internal Affairs of the region for violations of wood transportation delivered 210 drivers of vehicles to the internal affairs bodies, with a total volume of 5 thousand 606.7 m3 of forest products.

7 thousand 710 drivers transporting timber products were brought to administrative responsibility under Article 12.21 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (violation of the rules of cargo transportation, towing rules).

In order to highlight the results of measures aimed at decriminalizing the forest industry in the region, 246 information materials were posted in the media: 11 on television, 25 on radio, 22 articles were published in print media, the Internet information and telecommunications network, including on the official websites of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, 20 materials were posted.

The facts of fires in places of illegal logging, committed with the aim of concealing criminal activity, have not been established.

Based on the analysis of the activities of the State Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Irkutsk region, it is possible to determine the main activities of the divisions of the internal affairs bodies aimed at protecting forests from fires.

It is advisable to assign the functions of coordinating the activities of internal affairs units to ensure law and order and public safety during the forest fire season to the operational headquarters of the territorial division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

The Chief of Police organizes interaction with the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia for the subject of the Russian Federation, the Federal Security Service of Russia for the subject of the Russian Federation, the Department of Rosgvardiya for the subject of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia on transport, the Ministry of Forestry, communications and energy institutions on the timely passage of information on the state of the forest fire situation, the exchange of operationally relevant information, organization of urgent measures aimed at ensuring the protection of public order and the safety of citizens during the forest fire season, as well as providing urgent measures to minimize the consequences caused by wildfires, and coordination of forces and means.

The head of the main investigative Department of the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia provides departmental procedural control over decision-making on the materials of inspections on reports of crimes related to the destruction or damage of forest plantations by arson, in accordance with the jurisdiction provided for in Part 3 of Article 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.

The deputy of the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, together with the head of the UGIBDD and the head of the Department of Internal Affairs, in the event of emergencies caused by forest fires, organizes consideration of the provision of public services to the population affected by wildfires, including on the restoration of lost documents, clarifies the lists of employees of internal affairs bodies, their family members, places of actual residence for possible adoption measures of social support, organizes the work of the commission to consider issues of assistance to employees, employees, federal state civil servants of internal affairs bodies who have suffered as a result of an emergency.

Deputy chief of police is the territorial body of the MIA of Russia for the protection of public order provides interaction with the Government of the region GU Ministry of emergency situations of Russia, the local authorities in ensuring the protection of public order and security of citizens to worsen wildfire situation, monitors changes in the balance of forces and means in accordance with the terms of the use of forces and means to enforce law and order on the streets and other public areas in the settlements in case of complication of the operational situation caused by forest fires; in emergency situations caused by wildfires, performs calculation of forces and means necessary for the provision of practical assistance to the internal Affairs bodies, victims of the forest fires, and supervises the performance of duty combined force of bodies of internal Affairs of Russia; working on the issues of carrying out activities for the organization of protection of public order and public security in the temporary accommodation of evacuees, the issuance of the financial and social (humanitarian) aid, pensions, protection of citizens ' property left unattended, administrative buildings, areas of distribution of water; when planning pays special attention to human settlements, inaccessible to vehicular communications and communications; planning and conducting activities to ensure public order on the streets and in places of mass stay of people in the residential sector, with the aim to prevent cases of looting in the areas affected by forest fires; organize complex of operational search activities aimed at obtaining anticipatory important information quickly, identifying and solving crimes related to the destruction of forests by fire, and the persons conspiring to commit unlawful acts in the territories affected by forest fires.

The head of the UODUUPiPDN of the Ministry of Internal Affairs organizes and holds working meetings with representatives of municipal administrations, unified dispatching services of municipalities, voluntary people's and fire brigades, Cossacks, volunteer organizations, village elders, territorial divisions of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia in order to promptly inform interested departments about the hydrometeorological and fire-hazardous situation; organizes initial measures to prevent and eliminate the consequences of natural fires, evacuation of the population; pays special attention to settlements located at a considerable distance from district centers and in hard-to-reach places; conducts a set of operational search measures aimed at identifying and solving economic crimes related to the use by officials of budgetary funds allocated for fire safety and the use of budgetary funds, allocated for restoration work, humanitarian assistance, compensation to citizens affected by wildfires.

The head of the traffic police department calculates the forces and means of traffic police units with the creation of a reserve of traffic police crews necessary for rapid deployment to areas with a complex and fire-hazardous situation; provides monitoring of the current traffic situation on federal highways. In case of possible deterioration caused by floods, wildfires, as well as in order to avoid aggravation of the traffic situation and congestion of vehicles, organizes informing drivers about the closure of traffic on highways and ensures parking of vehicles in parking lots in specially designated places, performs explanatory work with the driver's staff, provides targeted assistance to drivers.

The Head of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Head of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are working on the organization of work on the restoration of lost identity documents of affected citizens (passport, temporary identity card), as well as the right to own and drive a vehicle (vehicle registration certificate, vehicle passport, driver's license), including in temporary accommodation of citizens (when issuing in return for lost or fallen into disrepair without levying a state fee in accordance with paragraph 16 of Part 1 of Article 333.35 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The Head of the UEBiPK GU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs monitors the implementation of compensation payments to individuals and legal entities that were damaged as a result of a forest fire, and compensation for the damage caused, ensures interaction with local governments and territorial divisions of the EMERCOM of Russia to identify and clarify the circle of persons claiming to receive appropriate guarantees and compensation.

The head of the FKU TSHISO GU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ensures the creation of an operational reserve of basic items of uniforms, bedding and personal protective equipment for possible additional support of personnel involved in extinguishing forest fires; provides a consolidated detachment in the field with cross-country vehicles, watercraft, communications equipment, mobile lighting equipment, motor pumps and other technical means, as well as property and inventory items for industrial and technical purposes, food necessary for autonomous life.

The Head of the Department of Internal Affairs carries out constant monitoring of the mass media and social networks to identify the most problematic areas related to the forest fire situation; places preventive and explanatory materials in the mass media and the information and telecommunications network of the Internet in order to bring to the public relevant relevant information about safety measures during the fire-hazardous period, as well as responsibility for violation of the law; highlights the activities of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and internal affairs bodies in general to provide necessary assistance to the population affected by forest fires, conduct registration actions of migration units and traffic police, and also provides information about the current situation, including the places of detour routes and evacuation of the population. Places the necessary information on the official website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia