Last year, South Moravian firefighters dealt with more than 12,000 incidents, 2,621 more than in the previous year. Photo: HZS JmK
Brno, Mar 20 (BD) – For the most part, the firefighters provided technical assistance (removing trees, killing insects, opening apartments, etc.), assisted in traffic accidents, and extinguished fires.
The South Moravian Fire Department released their 2017 yearbook last week.
The largest share (41%) of the total number of all incidents were those involving technical assistance. There was an enormous increase in such cases last year. While in 2016 3,137 incidents were reported, in 2017 it rose to 5,041.
In traffic accidents, firefighters saved a total of 914 people last year. The number of traffic accidents in the region was 2,268, which was 363 more than in 2016.
“Last year, we assisted in extinguishing 1,763 fires, which is the most in the last five years. Fourteen people died in fires. Flames caused damage of over 190 million crowns. We were able to protect assets worth 1.1 billion crowns,” said South Moravian Fire Department (HZS JmK) spokesman Jaroslav Mikoška.
The highest number of incidents were recorded in August and October of last year. In October, the firefighters had to deal with the damage caused by cyclone Herwart, a total of 936 incidents. This European windstorm affected southern Denmark, Germany, Poland, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic at the end of October 2017.
“The statistics also show that we most often intervene on Fridays and Sundays. Most of the accidents were reported between 4 and 5 pm,” Mikoška added.
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