How to avoid appearing in rescue reports

May 18, 2020

If the words "Peace, Labor, May" are not just a beautiful tradition or a symbol of a day off for you, but also a guide to action for working on your personal plots, in the homes of parents or elderly relatives, at dachas, then it's time to remember safety rules together with the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Unfortunately, every year people who wanted to tidy up their yards or clear last year's grass and debris end up in rescuers' reports, having finished with a call to "112". However, not only burning dry vegetation or a bonfire with last year's leaves can be dangerous.

Flammable liquids. Landscaping can end in tragedy if, when refueling any unit using gasoline (lawnmower, walk-behind tractor, etc.), you have an ignition source. Pay special attention to tidying up garages: this is where oily rags, containers holding traces of flammable liquids and gasoline are most often found. A small spark is enough for disaster to strike. Most often, careless smokers who forget basic rules and get burns end up in rescuers' practice. Sometimes it ends with a flash of vapors and minor injuries, sometimes with 90% burns and death.

Hands, feet, and other body parts in the blades of various units. Safety regulations, alas, are most often written in the blood of victims and casualties. Just this week, rescuers had to free a man's leg from a walk-behind tractor while he was plowing his garden. His trouser leg got caught in the tiller, trapping his leg in the mechanism. Therefore, during agricultural work, follow the safety rules indicated in the appliance instructions. Always tuck in your shirts and trousers so they don't get caught in the unit. Be attentive and careful. Do not allow children and adolescents to use such equipment.

Basements, cellars, and wells. Accidents in wells often become

resonant, as under the confluence of the most unfavorable circumstances, not only the person working inside may die, but also the person who rushed to save the victim. The treachery lies in the fact that the main cause of such emergencies is gas accumulation. As a rule, it is methane, which is released during decay and has no smell or color. It accumulates in basements, sewer manholes, and cellars. A few breaths are enough to feel suffocation. That is why entrust the cleaning of manholes and work in them to specially trained people from specialized organizations or enterprises that not only know about safety precautions but also have the appropriate equipment and devices.

Burning dry vegetation. This year there are already examples when a person burned grass – burned half the village. And the fact that only a few residential buildings remained in it does not make it much easier. The raging flame can harm not only property but also the arsonist himself or people who accidentally happened to be at the scene of the fire.

Most often, the situation develops according to the following scenario. From a campfire left unattended or a patch of burning grass, the fire spreads to buildings and trees due to the wind. At a wind speed of 1 meter per second, over 15 minutes, the fire front on dry grass will cover about 60 meters, and if the wind speed is 5 meters, it increases to 350.

In order to avoid disaster, the following recommendations must be followed:

– do not burn accumulated garbage in windy weather. Do not leave a burning fire unattended. If you decide to tidy up by lighting a campfire, remember that this can only be done in calm weather, at a distance from buildings, trees, stacks of straw, etc. And you must always have a sufficient supply of extinguishing agents – this can be water, sand, fire extinguishers;

– carefully extinguish cigarette butts and matches before throwing them away;

– if you notice a fire, do not pass by. You can extinguish the grass that has started to burn on your own. When extinguishing with improvised means, you can beat out the flame from the fire edge with a bundle of twigs or branches of deciduous trees, or throw sand onto the fire edge;

– after extinguishing the fire, do not leave until you are sure that the fire will not reignite.