Heating outage in minus thirty degrees stirs an uproar in Navy hub Severomorsk

Frosty weather in January 2026 became a serious test for the municipal utilities system in Severomorsk, a city that houses Russia's powerful Northern Fleet.

On January 3, heating and hot water were cut off in homes in the Upper Vaenga city district. As explained by Sergei Varlamov, director of utilities company Severomorsk Heating Network, the cause of the outage was a burst pipe. Emergency welding work was required to resolve the situation.

Varlamov also reported that special equipment and emergency teams were involved in the repair. However, the specifics of the system required a complete cessation of the heat and hot water supply. By the morning of January 4, the authorities announced the completion of welding work, but more problems soon arose.

By the evening of January 4, city Mayor Vladimir Evmenkov admitted that airlocks in the pipes were hindering the restoration of heat. In some city blocks, heating of homes had to be restarted 'from scratch', like at the beginning of the heating season.

The situation was complicated by the fact that the air temperature in Severomorsk remained around -30 or several days. Under such conditions, residents of the city district soon found themselves literally trapped in ice.

“This is an abuse of people! I work at night, there is a minor child at home. All heaters are on, but this does not solve the problem,” “Indeed, we are already fed up with your accidents... Where are your new pipes? Install them, and do not patch up the old ones. In a month, if not sooner, there will be another break,” residents wrote in a social media group managed by the city administration.

By January 5, the situation had worsened. Residents reported not only the lack of heat but also new troubles: burst radiators, frozen risers (vertical pipes in multistory buildings), and even the disconnection of cold water. 

A statement in a local government publication that “the scale of the incident is insignificant” caused particular outrage. For a person whose apartment is +15 degrees with icy windows, “insignificance” looks like mockery.

Also, on January 5, the Murmanenergosbyt, another utilities company, joined in to address the problems. The company's specialists argued that the accident itself was taken cafe of back on January 3, and the current problems in the buildings are the management of the house management companies, which were not ready ready to vent the systems when the time came.

Meanwhile, the discussion of the situation in city public forums quickly shifted from communal to political. Some users recalled reports of 'full winter readiness' and 'network replacement.' In the comments, people questioned the effectiveness of annual repairs and the actions of the administration.

Many also expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of direct communication with the governor and the city administration during peak moments of the crisis.

Reportedly, about 50 of 158 rof the requests for service that had been received were still in progress as of the morning of January 6. Emergency teams continued to carry out start-up and emergency recovery work in several parts of the city.

Severomorsk is located a few kilometres north of the City of Murmansk. It has a population of about of about 50,000. Most local families are somehow connected to the Northern Fleet.