MOSCOW -- The last few months have been tough on the people of Moscow. The exceptionally hot, dry summer resulted in peat fires in the capital's suburbs.
Because the metropolitan area sits on a huge peat bog, heavy rainfall is crucial to keep the peat damp. When peat -- also known as "devil's dirt" -- dries, even a recklessly abandoned campfire or a cigarette butt can set it ablaze. Then the fire spreads underground, as if led by Satan himself. It announces itself with thick, pungent smoke; then the ground yields -- having turned to ashes -- and a forest or a hamlet falls into the flaming pit.
Moscow's summers are normally wet and cool, and the last peat disaster occurred 30 years ago. But 2002 has been most unfortunate in this respect. When the peat hell was at its peak at the end of August, even downtown Moscow was engulfed by clouds of smoke, reducing visibility to just 50 meters and causing people to gasp for air.