Since 2023, 48 fires have occurred in the capital's dormitories

The main cause of fires in dormitories in the city was a violation of the rules of operation of electrical networks and equipment. This was announced during an operational meeting in the Minsk City Executive Committee on September 28 by the head of the Minsk City Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus Vitaly Susha, the correspondent of the Minsk-Novosti agency reports.

Since 2023, there have been 48 fires in the capital's dormitories. Most often, fires are associated with leaving unattended chargers connected to sockets, as well as overloading the electrical network. Less often, fires occur due to careless handling of fire.

V. Susha separately cited several cases of fires in dormitories that occurred relatively recently:

- Just last week in one of the hostels on the street. The TV lit up red. The fire damaged the property and the room was also smoked. In early July, there was a case of fire of bedding in the hostel on the street P. Brovki. The cause of the fire was a short circuit electrical socket.

During preventive raids on facilities, Emergencies Ministry inspectors periodically identify fire safety violations. These include cluttered evacuation routes, the lack of the ability to freely open from the inside without the key of the doors located on the escape routes, as well as the inoperability of fire automation systems.

- According to the results of the supervisory work, 85 dormitories were identified in which the fire automation systems were in malfunction, the head of the Minsk City Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations said. Today, 76 systems are in good condition. 9 dormitories remain under control, for which the terms of restoration of fire automation systems have not expired.

Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Vladimir Kukharev stressed that there should be no “discount” when detecting fire safety violations.

- We are talking about the risk to the lives of dozens of people, the head of the city said. This is especially true of fire automation systems. Owners of hostels are obliged to maintain them in good condition.

Photo by Denis Kulagi