Firewood in Dyatlov group tent

If you ask if there was firewood in the Dyatlov group's tent you will get many different answers. This publication is about something that stands between the stove and the tent, it is also made of wood, but it is not firewood. If you want to skip to the chase, the conclusion is at the bottom.

Illustration from "Survival basics"

Tent

From Churkina's examination of the tent (Case files 303-304): "From the right end there is a small round hole sewn in the form of a sleeve and intended for ventilation."

In the photographs, we see that the stovepipe is coming out of some hole in the end of the tent. It's logical to assume it's coming from the hole Churkina described (see photo 1). But! There must be some kind of fire protection at the junction of the pipe and the tent. Churkina didn't mention any such elements (like a metal or asbestos plate) on the tent. So some kind of protection must have been on the pipe.

Stove

In 2013, a meeting of veteran searchers was held in Yekaterinburg. Bartolomey and Yakimenko were describing the stove of the Dyatlov group: "The stove had the shape of a parallelepiped, with a chimney mounted in the rear. The chimney was folding, and to protect the walls of the tent had rings made of asbestos and an additional ring of wooden bars, fastened with a wire or cord. These raw bars were usually gathered and fastened on location. The stove was loaded approximately once an hour, to one third of its height, with specially chopped logs 30-40 cm long and 4-6 cm in diameter."

Comment from Askinadzi (from personal correspondence): "That's exactly how we used to go back then. Asbestos sheets was hard to come by, so we wrapped the pipe near the tent with the same logs we used for heating. This insulated the pipe from the tent. There was no special fireproof fabric—just an ordinary tent tarp."

The information about protection is specifically highlighted. For some reason, no one paid attention to this, even though many watched and discussed this video. Moreover, it's unclear why the searchers themselves didn't understand the connection between the "additional ring" and the wood for the stove. That is, wooden blocks were secured with wire around the stovepipe. And it's unlikely that these blocks were up to 6 cm in diameter, like the wood for the stove. Such a thick structure would not have fit through the opening of the tent.

Journalist Grigoriev writes that there was wire in the stove ("Snowstorm in the Mountains" - 2).

On Case files 34 it says, "Near the crackers lay a log taken from the site of the previous night's camp." This document was prepared by the Masters of Sports in Tourism (Bardin, Baskin, Shuleshko), who came to investigate the causes of the accident as representatives of the Union of Sports Societies and Organizations of the RSFSR. They outlined what Muscovites saw and learned about Dyatlov's group expedition in a document that is in the criminal case file. (Information about Dyatlov group expedition and Organization of the search). Based on this document was prepared a report for the Central Committee of the CPSU. A log is mentioned here (Case files 34). The Muscovites who wrote the text didn't actually see the tent and relied heavily on other people's accounts. They arrived later to search, and their job was to inspect the scene of the tragedy, describe the search operations, and draw their own conclusions. But the situation is described based on the searchers' accounts.

Sharavin's interview with the Center, February 2007
"What Matveeva describes is very close to how I imagine the case, except for one thing: she writes that they found a log there. It wasn't a log, but a stove filled with firewood. There weren't even any logs there, but the stove, a small one, was completely filled with firewood. In other words, they were planning to have a fire; they just didn't light it. The wood hadn't been removed from the stove..."

Matveeva most likely did not read the entire criminal case, and only quoted information from sheet 34. Sharavin's testimony is not included in the criminal case. All his memories are late.

Sharavin's Interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, September 2012
"When we opened the top, we saw a stove at the bottom of the tent, closer to the exit. There was firewood inside."

In fact, the log/chunk was found not in the tent, but near it. Testimony from searcher Lebedev: "...outside at the back end of the tent in the snow I found a log, undoubtedly intended for the stove." (Case files 313-315)

Key points:
1) Evidence of the fire protection ring's construction: wooden blocks secured to the pipe with wire.
2) Testimony from journalist Grigoriev that there was wire in the stove.
3) Testimony from searcher Lebedev that a "log" was found behind the tent (i.e., right at the end where the stove comes out).

It's possible this log broke off from the fire protection ring when the stovepipe was being dismantled. It could have remained inside the sleeve and fallen out when the tent was pitched on the slope. The pipe was placed in the stove with the fire protection ring. Therefore, some witnesses saw "logs" in the stove but didn't realize it was a "fire protection ring". In fact, the correct answer to the constant debate about whether or not there was firewood in the stove is this: Thin logs were stacked in the stove, but they weren't firewood.

This explains the "firewood in the stove". But this answer raises new questions:
If the searchers couldn't figure out that these weren't firewood but protection, then most likely they didn't usually carry these logs for the protection ring with them. They made a new ring each time at the new campsite. Bartolomey and Yakimenko also mentioned this. If there was no such protection, then we can immediately say that such a tent with such a pipe is an element of staging, since the tent will catch fire from the hot stovepipe.

Brusnitsyn's interview, May 2007
KA: The stove there... what condition is it in?
BV: The stove was fine, there's a supply of firewood – everything was done as it should be.

Lebedev told about the log he found during his interrogation in April, but for some reason he forgot about the logs inside the tent and only remembered them decades later. And this helped find the answer, because for the first time we actually understand what the firewood inside the stove looked like. Lebedev saw the pipes inside the stove, and the wood was already taken out.

Transcript of the document by Vladimir Askinadzi V.M.

They were not lying next to each other,
there was almost
about 2 meters between them.

The stove was in a cover, firewood was at the entrance—these were
small logs about ten
25-30 cm long, the pipes were inside the stove
The logs were in the tent itself
at the rear entrance of the tent.

Buckets (10 l), axes, and a saw - in their cases.
At the bottom are items taken from the backpacks.
Dyatlov / Slobodin / Kolevatov /

Ski pole:

Cut at 5-10 cm
from the top edge
with a knife, carefully.
And there was one more
notch

Hurricane lasted 1-2 days. It's my impression that Kolmogorova was wearing boots.
Paper money. Fire 1-15 meters in diameter.
The fire was lit, and they stuck their hands in it, freezing.
The fire was on bare, unprotected
places, but they didn't go into the forest.

​In order for the stove to be used, there should be insulation that was made from small pieces chopped from the firewood gathered on location, fastened with wire. So, in order for a log to be carried to be used, there should also be an insulation taken from the night before. The log is only one, and it was witnessed by Lebedev. The wood reported to be inside the stove was no longer there when Lebedev saw approximately​ 10 small wood bars 25-30 cm long, at the rear side of the tent. This is the size of the bars that the insulation ring was made of. The only reason why Dyatlov would take a log and the insulation ring is if he intended to use the stove. However, he didn't pitch the tent to support the load of the stove. See how the tent was ​secured ​in a similar trek in 1958 when he went with Bartolomey and Akslelrod to the Subpolar Ural. He knew very well how to ​set up the tent if this was what he intended to do. We are not discussing why he would go through the trouble to install the stove for only one log. Unless he intended to go down to the forest to gather firewood. No, they didn't go down for firewood and died ​for many reasons. First they they didn't stop at the beginning of the forest, and ​second - no one would go without shoes or tools​ to gather firewood.

We are left with intentional camping on the slope, as they carried the insulation ring and one log. But then he decided not to install the tent in a way that would make it possible for the stove to be used. I see no logic in this.​ On the other hand, the scenario that the authors introduce in the "1079" book offers a more sensible explanation. This is only a very small piece of the puzzle and goes like this. The tent was in the forest where the bodies were found.... When the first responders found the tent they dumped the burnt firewood that was inside the stove and everything attached to the stove was cramped inside - pipes, wire and wood bars from the insulation ring. The stove seemed to be stuffed with wood when you lift it, but the disassembled pipes were there as well, so there could have been that much room left for logs. And no one saw logs more than the one outside the tent, which could also be a chip of the insulation ring that remained in the sleeve of the tent and fell outside when the tent was staged on the slope.

The forgotten flashlight on top of the tent, the traces of urination, the footprints, etc., many things point to a hasty reconstruction. To make the tent so it withstands the load of the stove, and light it, needs more time and knowledge not only how to install the tent but also the stove... and there was not enough wood to justify the usage of the stove to start with. Then what is the insulation ring doing there? Hikers always made a new one from the wood gathered for the new fire. This is why the searchers never looked at these small wood bars as part of the insulation. And here is §22. If all described is indeed a firewood, then where is the insulation? There is not enough to make an insulation from what was found and have wood left for fire.

"1079. The overwhelming force of the Dyatlov Pass"
Chapter 22. Outsiders in the area of 1079

... But problems were arising. In the absence of any lateral ridgepoles, it was impossible to anchor the stove, which broke away during the fall and had remained in the tent since the time of the accident. The piping had suffered as well. So it was decided to set up the tent without the stove, which was slip-covered together with the pipes.

The controversy of whether there was firewood in the stove, is still on to this day. Sharavin recalled that the stove was stuffed with firewood. Lebedev recalled that the stove was slip-covered, with the pipes sitting inside the stove. Inside the tent, including at its rear end, there were about a dozen splinters 25 to 30 cm long, possibly, similar to the small log Lebedev found in 1959 behind the tent. Lebedev told about the log in his testimony from April, however, for some reason he had forgotten about the splinters inside the stove, and recalled it only decades later. That was what helped to find an explanation. Back in 2013, Bartolomey and Yakimenko were describing the stove of the Dyatlov group: "The stove had the shape of a parallelepiped, with a chimney mounted in the rear. The chimney was folding, and to protect the walls of the tent had rings made of asbestos and an additional ring of wooden bars, fastened with a wire or cord. These raw bars were usually gathered and fastened on location." Most likely that the splinters and the log, which Lebedev found in 1959, fell out of that additional protective ring when the conspirators were carelessly pulling the chimney out from the hole in the tent. Unfortunately, all those who saw the stove on February 28, had no idea of this detail, and the examination of the tent raised no suspicion. This detail might have been noticed by Maslennikov, as the most experienced hiker, had he stayed longer by the tent. Unfortunately, he went down too soon after its discovery. The searchers that stayed longer didn’t notice anything suspicious. Moreover, the students mistakenly believed that the method of setting up the tent on skis was Dyatlov’s ‘signature’ method, although among the military it had been known at least from the time of the Great Patriotic War (1941-45)