ANNEX 1
The Fire Service, during the year 2021, has responded to a total of 12333 calls for assistance, which involved calls for Fires, Special Services and False Calls.
In the statistics for the year 2021, the total number of calls by province is reported numerically and graphically.
Also reported is the total number of persons rescued by the Fire Department. The rescues involved persons involved in fires, traffic accidents, technological incidents, industrial accidents, persons trapped in defective elevators, in collapses of buildings or other substructures, in tall buildings, as well as rescues from cliffs, from wet elements, mountainous areas, etc.
APPENDIX 2
Report the total number of Special Services calls per month and in general for all of 2021, as well as for each Fire Station and by province.
ANNEX 3
Report the total number of Fire calls per month and in general for the whole of 2021, as well as for each Fire Station and by province.
ANNEX 4
Report the total number of Fire Calls, including all months for the years 2008 - 2021.
Comparative percentage growth rate (monthly and total year) for the years 2020-2021.
In addition, for the year 2021 a numerical separation of Rural and Urban fires is provided.
ANNEX 5
Report the total number of Rural fires including all months for the years 2008 - 2021.
Comparative percentage growth rate (monthly and total year) for the years 2020-2021.
Report the total number of Urban fires including all months for the years 2008 - 2021.
Comparative percentage of variation by % (monthly and total year) for the years 2020-2021.
ANNEX 6
Report by month, but also in total (numerical and percentage by %), for the type/type of facilities/establishments etc, where fires occurred for the year 2021.
ANNEX 7
Describe by month and in total (numerically and as a percentage) the causes of the fires that occurred for the year 2021.
ANNEX 7
Describe by month and in total (numerically and as a percentage) the causes of the fires that occurred for the year 2021.
ANNEX 8
The causes of fires in the countryside that occurred are described by month and in total for the year 2021 (in numbers and as a percentage of the total).
ANNEX 9
Described by month, and in total for the year 2021 (numerically and as a percentage of the total), are the causes of the Special Services that responded.
APPENDIX 10 A&B
Described by month, and in total for the year 2021, numerically, are the false calls by county and Fire Station. In addition, the reasons we were called to respond are listed (numerically and as a percentage of the total) for the False Calls. A related analysis on False Calls is provided in Section 8.
ANALYSIS
1. Introductionagoland[/B]
The Fire Department, during the year 2021, has responded to a total of 12333 calls for assistance, which involved calls for Fires, Special Services and False Calls.
2.Fires
The Fire Service has responded to a total of 7383 fires nationwide. Of these, 4474 were rural fires and 2909 were urban fires.
For the years 2020 - 2021, a comparison is made of an increasing trend times the %. It can be seen that, by the end of the current year, there is an increase in the total of all fires (urban - rural) of 2.50%.
3.Rural firesRural fires
For rural fires, a decreasing trend is observed for 2021 with the total number being 4474 and the percentage decreasing by 6.58% compared to 2020, when the total number recorded was 4789. The month of April each year has traditionally seen significant increases due to the burning of lamps or burning of other junk items, which were burned outdoors due to the Easter celebrations. In addition, the month of May shows a significant increase, mainly due to the bad habit of farmers to burn fields after the harvest, as well as due to deliberate burning, which takes place outside the legal period and without permission. In addition, the role of the patrols of both the Police and the Fire Service, the Forestry Department and the Thera Service was also catalytic. Also, an important factor in the reduction was the prevailing pandemic conditions and various public restrictions.
In addition, the large volume of dry combustible material accumulated during the months of the fire season of the year 2021, both in the countryside and in open spaces of urban areas, was a catalytic factor in the recording of outdoor fires.
Regarding the causes of outdoor fires, these are due, as has been reported, to burning, intentional burning, burning of concrete, dumping of cigarette butts, use of sparking tools in the open air, preparation of food in unauthorized areas or other human activities in the open air that are likely to cause fires. In addition, it was observed on the basis of some arrests made by the Police following witnesses, as well as on the basis of the circumstances of the site and time of the fires, that a number of them were malicious, particularly in Larnaca and Limassol districts.
The contribution of the human factor in causing fires in the countryside is once again demonstrated, with the percentage exceeding 92%
4. Urban fires
In addition, there is an increase of 20.51% in urban fires The number of fires occurring in urban areas in 2021 is 2909, compared to 2414 occurring in 2020. The main reason for the increase in urban fires is most likely due to the restrictive measures that were implemented at times due to the pandemic and the increased domestic general activities of citizens under restriction. The main sites of urban fires were in plots of land, motor vehicles, private dwellings, apartment blocks, concrete blocks, other outbuildings and other premises as detailed numerically and by percentage in the table in Annex 6 entitled Type and Type of Establishment.
As regards the causes of fires in Urban areas, these were mostly due to electrical problems, failure of electrical appliances in dwellings or lodgings, electrical or mechanical problems in vehicles, cigarette butts, malicious acts, arson, defective chimneys and fireplace stoves, incorrect use of heating and cooking appliances, incorrect or negligent use of tools or appliances in workplaces. A detailed numerical and percentage list of the causes of fires in urban areas is given in the table in Annex 7 entitled Causes of fires. It is found that the human factor played an important role with the causes of fires reaching 90%.
5.Reference to burnt area and the economic aspect of fire damage
The burnt area of the countryside is worth mentioning, which is presented for 2021 (24.30 sq km), increased by 6.1 sq km compared to 2020 (18.20 sq km).
The economic aspect of the damage is increased for 2021. As the approximate losses estimated by the Fire Service are recorded, for 2021 there were total losses (29,212,512 million)
of which 10,596,402 million concerned urban fires and 18,616,110 million concerned rural fires. In 2020 there was a total amount of losses (9,915,210 million euros), of which the amount of 9,323,310 million concerned urban fires and the amount of 591,000 thousand euros concerned rural fires. There is an increase in both damage and the number of Fire Service responses involving urban fires for 2021 at a rate of 20.51%. Although the numerical growth rate for urban fires is relatively increased, the monetary damage is not substantially increased compared to 2020, i.e. 10,536,402 million in 2021, compared to 9,323,310 million in 2020.
This indicates.
(2) It is estimated that, the public also applies voluntary fire safety measures, as well as complies with the suggestions of the Fire Service to observe fire safety measures in premises, which detect the fire in time and thus receive timely information for response. Also, it is estimated that fire safety measures are implemented for early suppression of a potential fire and limiting its extension.
The increase in rural fire losses in 2021 (18,616,110 million), compared to 2020 (591,000 mill. euros), is estimated to be mostly due to the fire that occurred in July in the Limassol/Larnaca mountainous area and the property damage caused to agricultural or other land and infrastructure, as well as to the places where Outdoor Fires generally occurred and the damage they caused.
6. Total number of persons rescued, injured and killed by Fires
The total number of persons rescued, injured or killed due to the fires was 55. Significantly down from the year 2020, when the number was 124. In detail, the Fire Service made 29 fire rescues in 2021 compared to 18 in 2020. There were 19 injuries compared to 103 in 2020 and 7 people died from fires compared to 3 in the same period last year.
7.Special Services
There is a slight increase in Special Services responses of 3.95%. For 2021 there was a response of 4193 calls, compared to 2020 which was 4028. The slight increase is essentially due to responses to weather related flooding incidents, animal rescues, elevator responses and other general Special Services responses handled by the Fire Department. For the most part, the Fire Department's Special Services responses focus on evacuations of persons trapped in faulty elevators, flood responses involving storm water pumping from residences or other structures, towing or rescues of persons, trapped in their vehicles in flooded streets, opening storm water drains, preventing accidents, rescuing animals, responding to traffic collisions and evacuating persons, assisting in transporting patients, assisting the police in various incidents. A detailed status of the causes of response to Special Services, both in number and as a percentage, is presented in the table in Annex 9.
In addition, the Fire Service carried out in the year 2021, the rescue of 1762 persons. The rescues involved persons involved in fires, traffic collisions, technological disasters, industrial accidents, entrapment in defective elevators, rescues of persons after collapses of buildings or other shelters, rescues from tall buildings, from wet elements, wells and from mountainous areas.
More generally, the 1707 cases out of 1762 did not involve rescues from fires, which are specifically mentioned, in paragraph 6, but offers of assistance to persons in distress, as described in the paragraph above.
Of the 1707 persons called upon by the Fire Service to assist for purposes other than fires, 284 suffered injuries and 57 resulted in death.
8.False Calls
False Calls are divided into 3 categories.
- Malicious: These refer to calls that are false and made solely with malicious intent.
- With good intent: These are calls that are not malicious but are made by persons who detect features in the environment that resemble a fire, such as dust in the countryside produced by an agricultural tractor ploughing a field, which is perceived by passers-by as a fire.
- Due to mechanical or electrical failure: Sounding of alarm systems without there being a fire because they have suffered mechanical or electrical failure.
The total number of false calls for 2021 is 754, up from 753 in 2020. The numbers were found to remain at the same level as last year. The vast majority of False Calls, which reaches 98%, are calls for a good cause. This demonstrates the public's hypersensitivity to prevention and early warning of suppression teams.
9. Beneficial ConclusionsObservations[/B]
It is found that, regardless of the general assessment in the numbers of fires with fluctuating trends, more than 9 out of 10 fires were due to the human factor and human activity.
In addition, general conclusions in the assessment of a year should not only be made on the basis of Fire or Special Service numbers, but also on the basis of property damage, loss of life or injuries.
Despite the difficult environmental conditions prevailing, especially during the fire season, the aggressive tactics applied by the Fire Service with ground and aerial forces from the initial stage of fires, prove to be a catalyst for the containment of rural fires. In addition, it is observed that the immediacy of fire brigade intervention in Urban Fires or Special Services for rescue purposes reduces the damage to both property and human lives to a minimum.
In addition to these, catalytic factors for the frequency of Rural/Civil or Special Services fires provided by the Fire Service are. [*]The prevention measures taken by all Services, both suppression and prevention. [*]Human awareness, which is developed through prevention and public information campaigns, resulting in a considerable reduction in human activities that can cause fires, whether in urban or rural areas. In addition, an important factor in reducing damage is the timely information received by suppression forces when a fire is detected. [*]The patrols, the staffing of Outdoor Stations and the cooperation that exists in these matters with all suppression agencies.
[*]The contribution of the Police to the investigation of the causes of fires by investigating and bringing guilty persons to justice.
Note: For the appendices, click here.
(NΓ/EXP)
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