Forest fire fighting in rural areas of the USSR in the first half of the 1930s

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to characterise the peculiarities of the Ukrainian population’s fight against forest fires in rural regions of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic (USSR) in the first half of the fourth decade of the twentieth century. The scientific novelty is that for the first time in a separate scientific study, the peculiarities of the Ukrainians’ fight against forest fires in the Ukrainian SSR in the first half of the 1930s are considered on the basis of previously unexplored archival materials of the state archival institutions of Ukraine (the Central State Archive of Higher Bodies of Power and Administration of Ukraine and the State Archive of Kharkiv Oblast). Conclusions. The article examines the problems of fire prevention and firefighting measures in Ukrainian rural regions during the period of the Stalinist totalitarian regime. The author analyses the specifics of the activities of the authorities, governmental and public institutions in the field of fire prevention and fire fighting in the forests of the Ukrainian SSR. It is found that during this period in Ukrainian rural regions there was a shortage of qualified specialists in the field of firefighting. It has been found that a fairly large proportion of fires in forests were caused by arson within the peasant resistance movement against Stalin’s policy of collectivisation and dekulakisation. The peculiarities of fire prevention and extinguishing in forestry, near the routes of communication in forest areas, in particular, near the railways and highways in the Ukrainian SSR in 1930–1935 are investigated.