Carelessness when smoking is the main cause of fires
November 13, 2020
Carelessness when smoking is the undisputed leader of all fire incidents. Most often, citizens who abuse alcohol become perpetrators and victims of fire in such cases.
Carelessness when smoking is the undisputed leader of all fire incidents. Most often, citizens who abuse alcohol become perpetrators and victims of fire in such cases. As is known, people in a state of alcoholic intoxication lose control over their actions and deeds, either completely or partially. It is not uncommon for a person who has had a drink to throw unextinguished cigarette butts anywhere, go to bed with a lit cigarette, and not think about the consequences at all. In most cases, this category of citizens, along with their own safety, endangers the lives of their loved ones, as well as their neighbors. Almost daily, such incidents are reported in the MES summaries.
On August 15 at 01:22, a report was received about a fire in a residential building in the village of Lapeshchino, Rossony district. Upon arrival at the scene, the house was on fire, and the roof and ceiling collapsed. The owner, born in 1971, unemployed, lived alone. According to neighbors, he is characterized unsatisfactorily; the day before the fire, he was seen in a state of alcoholic intoxication. In the living room, on the floor, under a layer of collapsed structures, the owner's body was found by MES workers. As a result of the fire, the roof, ceiling, and property were destroyed, and the walls were damaged. The cause of the fire is being established. The considered version is carelessness of the deceased when smoking.
On August 18 at 22:00, a report was received about a house fire on
Mikhailovskaya Street in Polotsk. Upon arrival at the scene, heavy smoke was coming from the window of a private residential house. The owner, born in 1973, unemployed, lives alone. After entering the house, MES workers found the man on the floor in the room in an unconscious state and carried him out of the smoky area. After examination by an ambulance team, the victim was hospitalized with poisoning by combustion products and burns of the 2nd-3rd degree of the upper extremities and torso.
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 follow the same scenario, when a person falls asleep with a smoldering cigarette in their hand, and after some time, neighbors call rescuers. Unfortunately, at night, a fire is detected at a stage of burning when there is almost no chance of saving a person.
Not scattering unextinguished cigarette butts 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 of an open window through the vent, and create fire hazardous situations with their own hands.
What advice can be given to people who have someone who smokes in their family?
- install smoke detectors in all rooms;
- persuade them to smoke in a designated area and discard cigarette butts in an ashtray;
- make sure they do not smoke in bed;
- warn them that a cigarette butt thrown from a balcony can cause a fire;
- do not allow smoking in stairwells or in the presence of children.
Rules for smokers:
- do not smoke in apartments (houses), especially in bed, especially when intoxicated;
- do not use paper bags, matchboxes, or cigarette packs as ashtrays - they can ignite;
- when the ashtray is full, empty it promptly;
- do not throw even extinguished cigarettes into trash cans, garbage chutes, from balconies or loggias;
- make sure that ash does not fall on combustible items or the floor;
- store matches, lighters, and cigarettes out of reach of children.