The number of fires in the Vitebsk region decreased by 17% in the first half of the year

July 27, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. The number of fires in the Vitebsk region in the first half of the year decreased by 17%, the press secretary of the Vitebsk regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Marina Fando, told a BELTA correspondent. In total, from January to June, 645 fires occurred in the Vitebsk region, which is 128 cases less compared to the same period in 2011. The direct material damage from fires amounted to Br6.4 billion. 85 people died in fires (including three children), which is 34% less than in the same period last year. At the time of the fire, 64 people were intoxicated, which is 75% of the total number of deaths. An increase in fires was noted in four regions of the region: Verkhnedvinsky, Vitebsky, Chashniksky districts and Vitebsk. An increase in the number of deaths from fires was recorded in the Braslavsky and Shumilinsky districts. Marina Fando also noted the main causes of the fires. Thus, 43.1% of them are related to careless handling of fire, 22.5% - to violations during the operation or malfunction of stove heating, 16.7% - to violations during the operation or malfunction of electrical equipment, 8.5% - to arson, 2% - to children's pranks with fire, 1.2% - to violations of the rules for operating gas devices and units, 0.9% - to violations of fire safety requirements during hot work. In addition, in the first half of the year, the supervisory authorities of the Vitebsk regional Ministry of Emergency Situations completed scheduled inspections of 776 entities, including 492 of high-risk group, 54 of medium-risk, and 130 of low-risk. More than 1 thousand joint raids were carried out with interested departments. For the revealed violations, almost 5.1 thousand individuals and 53 legal entities were brought to administrative responsibility. The operation of 16 buildings and structures, 30 premises and production sites, and 405 stoves was suspended.