From December 16 to 29, a special fire safety regime is introduced in Irkutsk due to a sharp rise in fires after the cold snap. Authorities promise to intensify preventive patrols and double fines for violating fire safety rules, with special attention to private homes, troubled families, and houses with faulty stove heating. The report also gives alarming fire statistics and explains why tragedies most often occur.

From December 16 to December 29, a special fire safety regime is being introduced in Irkutsk. It is linked to a sharp increase in the number of fires in the city of Irkutsk, which occurred after the cold snap at the end of November. The head of the Irkutsk City Fire Supervision Department, Andrey Chernigovsky, noted a sharp deterioration in the situation. If the overall fire statistics are only slightly higher than last year’s, the number of fires in November and December of this year is almost twice as high as in the same period last year. If 44 fires were registered in November last year, the number of fires this November reached 69 cases. Over the two weeks of this month—from December 1 to 15—another 33 fires occurred in Irkutsk.
The special fire safety regime is being introduced in Irkutsk for the first time this year. Previously, fire prevention ten-day campaigns were held in the city three times, during which preventive measures were strengthened. According to Valery Ternovsky, head of the Department for Civil Defense and Emergency Situations of the Irkutsk city administration, about 1.3 million rubles from the Irkutsk city budget were spent on fire safety measures during this time. He noted that during the special fire safety regime, fines for violating mandatory fire safety requirements will be doubled. During the special fire safety regime, the number of preventive inspections by OND employees in Irkutsk and the city administration in residential areas will increase: commissions will visit private-sector homes with faulty stove heating, places where disadvantaged families live, and apartment buildings where residents store flammable waste.
As of today, 608 fires have been registered in Irkutsk, in which 25 people died and 40 were injured. On the weekend, 3 fires occurred in residential buildings in Irkutsk, during which 4 people died. The largest number of fires occurs in private-sector homes and in transport. Deaths in fires are usually associated with alcohol consumption and smoking. A smoldering cigarette, which has a temperature above 700 degrees, falls onto furniture, carpeting, or into plastic containers. And this causes a fire, during which a person suffocates from carbon monoxide within 7–10 minutes.
Based on materials from the press service of the Irkutsk city administration.