Kursha-2
Kursha-2 (), named so after a road sign, was an industrial community in the Central Meshchyora, Ryazan Oblast, Russia. It was built soon after the October Revolution for the exploitation of the local forests, and was annihilated by a firestorm on 3 August 1936. The disaster caused 1000+ human deaths, making it one of the world's deadliest wildfires. A narrow-gauge railway ran from the Trans-Meshchyora trunk-railway to Kursha-2 and then extended to Lesomashinny and Charus. More than 1000 lived in this woodcutters' settlement during the 1930s. Trains transported wood to Tumskaya , where it was finished . Fire. At the beginning of August, 1936, a firestorm started near Charus, possibly started by a spark caused by a train on the Kursha-2 - Charus line and to the south-east of Kursha-2. Alternatively, the fire could have been started by a dry thunderstorm on the 2nd August The firestorm extended to the north, growing in intensity to become an aerial or crown fire, a fierce conflagration that consumes fuel from the forest's canopy. On the night of 2 August, an empty train came to Kursha-2. By this point, over 1000 hectares were ablaze and the fire was rapidly  intensifying. As the fire intensified, it roared past Koltukhi. As a witness described, 'the forest was not burning, but exploding' and 'it sped through the forest with a tremendous roaring, and its speed was so high that barely anyone managed to escape'. The same source reported fire tornadoes and plumes of black smoke rising to huge heights. Other witnesses reported that the speed of the firestorm was around 30 km/h. But Koltukhi was spared- the field separating the village from the forest stopped the fire from reaching the village. That's when the villagers understood where the firestorm was  heading. Straight at Kursha, which was 3 km away and surrounded by pine woodland. The train crew, which when on the way from Charus saw the plumes of smoke from a distance, offered to evacuate children and women from the settlement, but a dispatcher ordered wood be loaded onto the train. This work extended for a few hours, and precious time was lost. The danger only truly became apparent when the firestorm reached the settlement. There weren't enough spaces on the train to evacuate all of the panic-stricken settlers, and hundreds were forced to stay at the station . The escapees sat on the carriage couplings, the steam-engine, and the cargo of the wooden logs. Once departed the train reached a bridge across the canal to the north from Kursha-2. They found it already ablaze. As the train attempted to bypass the bridge, it caught fire.The train was trapped and burnt with almost all passengers aboard including cargo while only 29 managed to save themselves. Those who survived didn't seek solace in the ditch bordering the railway- they ran straight at the wall of fire and escaped with severe burns. Those who stayed at the train  and in the ditch died Whilst this tragedy was unfolding, people who were left behind in Kursha-2 were seeking ways to save themselves from the fire. Some of them buried themselves in sand, wrapping themselves with a wet blanket. Others hid in wells and in the village pond. Those who hid in wells were killed when the fire swept through the village and they were buried under collapsing wood. When the fire moved on, only the village shop was left standing, with 78 survivors in the village, 75 of which received burns of varying severity. When the fires receded, all  that was left was a terrible, burnt landscape and dwellings, and charred corpses everywhere. As the result of the firestorm, 1200 died including woodcutters (some of which were hired from nearby villages), their families, railwaymen, and military men. The fire lost its strength soon after the disaster, when on the 4th August there was a downpour in the region. Initially, the newspaper Novaya Meschera published a note which spoke of 250 dead. On the 16th August, a meeting of officials announced the death toll as 313. However, 1,000 graves were recorded as being ordered in Tuma to bury the victims  in Kursha-2, but these ran out quickly. The tragedy was intentionally poorly highlighted by Soviet media: only a few brief notes were made public; the only reminder of this event was a common grave near the ruins of the locomotive depot. The settlement was restored, but on a smaller scale. Soon after World War II, it was depopulated, the Kursha-Charus railway was dismantled, and thereafter, only foresters lived in Kursha-2. Now the settlement lies in ruins, and the sole resident of the area, as of 2006, was one 90-year-old woman who survived by escaping from the burning  train with the help of another man into the flames. Her mother and sisters died the same day.