In 2022, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations inspected over 150,000 households and apartments in the Vitebsk region

Shortly before the professional holiday, Rescuer's Day, the results of the service's work for 2022 were summarized in Vitebsk. The head of the Vitebsk Regional Emergency Situations Ministry Department, Sergey Meleshkin, provided statistics:

Photo from the archive of "SB"

— By the end of 2022, the number of fires in the region decreased by 7 cases, from 948 to 941. 109 people died in them, which is 7 cases more than in 2021. Among them, the fire claimed the life of one child. This happened on October 22. The teenage girl was home alone, she was going to cook breakfast in the morning and fell asleep, leaving the gas stove on. When rescuers arrived at the scene, the house was engulfed in flames. The teenager could not be saved.

61 people were injured in fires in the northern region, which is 47 more than in 2021. 59 victims were rescued from the fire. The majority of fire incidents (521) still occur in rural areas. The main causes of fires were careless handling of fire (396 cases, the same as in 2021); violation of the rules for the installation and operation of electrical networks and electrical equipment, as well as the installation and operation of stoves and other heat-generating appliances. The remaining fires are attributed to arson (32), fire works – an increase of 29.4% (from 17 to 22), and children's mischief with fire.

Photo from the archive of "SB"

As before, the most frequent fires occur in residential buildings – more than 70% of the total number of fires. Enterprise facilities account for 9%, and vehicles – slightly more than 10%. Meleshkin noted that people leading an antisocial lifestyle often become victims of fires:

— As a rule, they are unemployed, abuse alcohol, and have another bad habit – smoking. Out of 109 deaths, 91 were intoxicated, and almost half of the fires (396) occurred due to careless handling of fire, with 271 of them being related to an unextinguished cigarette.

Rescuers, together with interested prevention entities, continue individual work, including with citizens from the so-called "risk group". In 2022, the Ministry of Emergency Situations inspected over 151 thousand households and apartments. This work has continued in the current year.

"SB"