Fires kill over 250 people in Romania in one year

More than 27,800 fires were registered in Romania in 2016, representing an average of 76 per day, according to data from General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU). A total of 258 people lost their lives in fires last year, and 659 suffered various injuries. Most of the fires registered last year, namely 40%, occurred in areas with dry vegetation, 24% occurred at houses, and 9% in annexes, with most of them being registered in the Bucharest-Ilfov region, and Constanta, Teleorman, Dolj, and Olt counties. More than a quarter of total number of fires were mainly caused by the use of faulty or improvised electrical equipment, 17% happened because the chimneys were damaged or hadn’t been cleaned, and 14% were caused by use of open fire. The firefighers' average response time for this type of risk was 13 minutes last year, one minute faster than in 2015. On average, fires affected 19 housing units per day. This means that a total of 6,803 houses were affected by fires last year in Romania, according to data from IGSU. The authorities also intensified the prevention actions last year. Over 67,500 controls were carried out nationwide in 2016, 13% more than in the previous year. The authorities issued more than 19,700 fines with a total value of RON 40.32 million (EUR 9.1 million), and 139,461 warnings. Strong fire burns down famous Bamboo Club in Bucharest Fire destroys 4,000 violins at musical instruments factory in Romania 11 animals dead as circus building catches fire in Bucharest Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com