Carelessness while smoking is the main cause of fires
Careless smoking is the undisputed leader of all fire incidents. Most often, the culprits and victims of fire in such cases are citizens who abuse alcohol. As is known, people in a state of alcoholic intoxication completely or partially lose control over their actions and deeds. Often, a tipsy person throws unextinguished cigarette butts wherever he pleases, goes to bed with a lit cigarette, and does not think about the consequences at all.
In most cases, this category of citizens, along with their safety, endangers the lives of their loved ones, as well as people living nearby. Similar incidents appear in the emergency services reports almost daily.
On November 6, at 7:44 AM, rescuers received a report about a residential building fire on Kirov Street in the city of Miory, Vitebsk region. Upon arrival at the scene, EMERCOM units observed smoke inside the house. With the permission of the homeowner, born in 1986, her stepfather, born in 1959, lived there. The man was unemployed and characterized by neighbors as abusing alcoholic beverages. During the fire extinguishing, EMERCOM employees found two bodies on the floor in the room: the man living in the house and a visiting acquaintance, whose identity is currently being established. As a result of the fire, property in the house was destroyed, and the walls and ceiling were blackened. The version being considered is careless handling of fire while smoking by one of the deceased.
A smoking person risks not only himself but also his loved ones. The health consequences have long been known: passive smoking causes great harm to others, but a discarded cigarette butt can well bring trouble to residents of lower floors. An ashtray is not nuclear physics, and mastering the art of using it is easier than easy. The best way to protect yourself from the effects of tobacco is to quit smoking altogether. Do not forget that "flying" and "drunk" cigarette butts can cause crippled lives, broken destinies, and a burned house.
The largest number of fires due to careless handling of fire while smoking occurs in the evening and at night. Events develop rapidly and always according to the same scenario, when a person falls asleep with a smoldering cigarette in hand, and after some time, neighbors call rescuers.
On November 27, three men died in a fire in the Vitebsk region.
At 5:37 AM, Tolochin rescuers received a report about a house fire in the village of Podberezye, Tolochin district. At the time of the fire, its owner, born in 1964, who was unemployed and liked to abuse alcohol, was in the house. During the fire extinguishing, his body was found by EMERCOM employees.
On the same day, at 10:08 AM, rescuers received a report about a house fire in the village of Obrub-Berezvechsky, Gluboksky district. At the scene of the fire, EMERCOM employees found the body of the homeowner, a pensioner, born in 1957. As neighbors said, the man also liked to abuse alcohol.
Around midnight on November 28, a residential building fire occurred in Vitebsk. The homeowner, born in 1963, was unemployed and lived alone. At the time of the fire, a visiting acquaintance, a pensioner born in 1957, was at the man's house. He was found by rescuers in the room in an unconscious state and carried out into the fresh air. His death was pronounced by an ambulance crew.
As a result of fires in three residential buildings, walls, ceilings, and property were damaged by fire, and investigations are underway. The cause of the fire in all cases is the same – careless handling of fire while smoking.
Not throwing unextinguished cigarette butts – this is not even a fire safety requirement, but ordinary rules of conduct for a normal civilized person. Unfortunately, many citizens do not attach much importance to them. People smoke in bed, throw cigarette butts on the floor, throw them out through an open transom window, and create fire-hazardous situations with their own hands.