MOSCOW — A miasma of smoke from wildfires cloaked the sweltering Russian capital Friday, turning the city’s spires into ominous blurs and grounding flights while glum pedestrians trudged the streets with faces hidden by surgical masks and water-soaked bandanas.
The smoke crept into many buildings, hovering about the ceiling in entryways. The State Historical Museum, on Red Square, was forced to close because it couldn’t stop its smoke detectors from going off.
Airborne pollutants such as carbon monoxide were four times higher than average readings — the worst ever seen in Moscow, city health officials reported. The concentration appeared likely to intensify. The state news agency ITAR-Tass reported smoke was thickening in the city’s southeast late Friday.
The fires, which are raging across much of western Russia, come after weeks of extraordinary heat — daily highs of up to 100 degrees, compared with the summer average of 75 — and practically no rain.
Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trenev said Friday that there is yet no water shortage because officials had kept reservoir levels high. But he noted that river levels are down by more than 20 percent, due to increased demands for water to battle the fires and practically no water flowing in.
Visibility in the capital was down to a few dozen yards because of the smoke, which is forecast to hang around for days because of the lack of wind.
“It’s just impossible to work,” said Moscow resident Mikhail Borodin, in his late 20s, as he removed a face mask to puff on a cigarette. “I don’t know what the government is doing; they should just cancel office hours.”
More than 500 separate blazes were burning nationwide Friday, mainly across western Russia. At least 52 people have died and 2,000 homes have been destroyed in the blazes. Russian officials have admitted that the 10,000 firefighters battling the blazes aren’t enough.
