Fire risks, casualties still high in Russia - Emergency Situations Minister
MOSCOW. Aug 9 (Interfax) - Fire risks and casualties remain high in Russia, Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov told the government on Thursday.
"In spite of positive trends, fire risks and casualties remain high. Fire safety of residential areas and sites in remote areas difficult of access and surrounded by forests has not been provided in full," he said.
The federal target program, which allocates 199.5 billion rubles for fire safety through 2012, "has helped improve the fire rate," Puchkov said.
The overall number of fires in the country dipped by 16.8%. "Each year the fire rate reduced by 7,000. The fire mortality rate reduced by 25% to 11,300 people. Certainly, the casualties are still large, but we yearly save 1,100 human lives," he said.
The number of people hurt in fires has reduced by 6.3%, while economic damage has been practically halved, he said.
The percentage of residential areas with insufficient fire safety is down from 36% to 15%, the minister concluded.