Wild fires in Russia

I’ve been reading about and watching videos of the wild fires in Russia. So, so sad.

I suppose you can’t be very profound in a Twitter post, but President Medvedev’s tweets are a mastery of understatement: “The situtation remains very difficult.”

Making it even worse is the wholly inadequate response teams. There’s no mention of any specialized forest/wild fire brigade or volunteer firefighters program, like they have in the US states.

Hundreds (thousands?) of people work as seasonal firefighters with the Nevada Division of Forestry every summer, fighting the wild fires throughout the western U.S. (a never-ending battle, it seems). I wonder if it’s possible for some of the crews to help now in Russia? I wonder if the Russian leadership would accept the help? I wonder if it’s not too late?

I’m not the praying type, but words fail me in situations like this. Hope, wish for, think of – they seem insufficient. Pray for these families.