The Fires And The People Of Nizhny Novgorod

It took firefighters from the city of Ufa two days to reach Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. They're now working around the clock.

All photos by Anastasia Kirilenko

Innokenty Vasilevich came back to his house in the Vyksunsky district village of Borkovka to salvage what he could and to say goodbye to his home.

Lyosha barely cried when his family fled from the fire, says his mother. The photo shows the remains of their house in Borkovka.

A cat injured in the fires returned after two days to the place where his home stood in Borkovka.

The cat suffered singed whiskers and burnt paws, but survived the blaze. The family dog has not been seen since the fires.

A Vyksunsky district forest in the wake of a fast-moving crown fire.

Gennady Boinov was forced to flee on foot when fires swept through his village of Verkhnyaya Vereya in Vyksunsky district. He's now collecting scrap metal to sell.

Residents from the district town of Vyksa are working as volunteer firefighters armed with only garden sprinklers and shovels. They call themselves the first line of defense between the fires and their homes. This team has kept up 24-hour shifts on the outskirts of the Vyksa forest for the past two weeks.