The first fire safety Thursday is being held in the Vitebsk region

June 4, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. A Unified Fire Safety Day is being held for the first time in the Vitebsk region today, Marina Fando, press secretary of the Vitebsk Regional Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, told a BELTA correspondent. Its theme will be preventive work to prevent child deaths and fires due to children's carelessness with fire. Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations will meet and talk not only with parents but also with children - in camps and boarding schools. Special attention will be paid to individual work with families on preventive records. Deputies of the Vitebsk Regional Council supported the initiative of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and now the Unified Fire Safety Day will be held in the region regularly, on the first and fourth Thursday of each month. For fire prevention on these days, continuous inspections of houses and apartments of disadvantaged and lonely citizens will be carried out. Mass media will also be involved in conducting fire-safe Thursdays. With their help, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations hope to draw the public's attention to the need to ensure their own safety. According to operational data from the Regional Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, 711 fires have occurred in the region since the beginning of the year. Compared to the same period last year, their number increased by 140 cases. 90 people died in fires, and despite the fact that the total number of deaths decreased by 9 people, the number of child deaths increased by 5. A total of 6 minors died in fires in the region. As a rule, the main cause of child deaths is leaving children unattended by parents and, as a consequence, carelessness with fire. -0-