Moldovan authorities competent in anti-fire security summoned to meeting at government

Chisinau, 21 April /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Pavel Filip summoned the authorities competent in the anti-fire security sector to a working meeting, in the wake of the fires which occurred in Chisinau on 20 April, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.    

According to information unveiled at the meeting, 14 special vehicles and over 100 firemen and rescuers were involved to intervene in the extinguishing the first fire, which flashed up at the Zootechny Institute. To liquidate the second fire, which outbroke at a trade centre from the capital, four intervention teams were involved. In both cases, the roofs of the buildings caught fire, all people were evacuated and nobody was hit. The circumstances and reasons of the fire are to be established. 

At the same time, at 12:00-12:07, when the first fire occurred, 74 emergency calls were received at the 112 Service, which means one call at every four seconds. Starting from 13:13, when the second fire outbroke, 136 calls were recorded during five minutes, - one call at every two seconds. Operators of the Service reacted promptly to the emergency calls and alerted the intervention services in the shortest time possible.   

The prime minister highlighted the importance of further checking the facilities from Moldova, as well as the need to toughen the punishments for the non-observance of the norms of protection against fires. Pavel Filip demanded an analysis on possibility to revise the framework of imposing sanctions in the sector, which will enhance the responsibility of economic agents, as well as of buildings’ owners. “Fire does not occur if all technical rules are observed; somebody always bears responsibility. I want us not to get to the situation when we do not know who is responsible for the outbreak of the fire,” the PM said.   

Under an instruction by the prime minister from 27 March 2018, 47 joint teams were set up, which have carried out controls at 502 out of 1,091 social, cultural and entertainment facilities from Moldova so far. The economic agents subjected to control are given regulations compulsory to be fulfilled and warnings about the anti-fire security norms.