Actions at Crisis Situations

IN CASE OF FIRE OR ACCIDENT, PLEASE CALL ON THE TELEPHONE NUMBER OF THE UNIFORM SYSTEM FOR EMERGENCY CALLS – 112

PLEASE INFORM ABOUT:

• Who is calling (your name);
• Please speak clearly and slowly about the problem: “fire”, are there any suffered or endangered people and then specify the address (town, quarter, street, No, near crossing street);
• If you have injured people please immediately call up for help with a high voice.

Without taking any unnecessary personal risk – try to extinguish the fire with a fire extinguisher or with available means.

How is this done with a fire extinguisher?:

1. Pull out the safety pin;
2. Press the handle and direct the stream close to the basis of the flame;
3. Hold firmly the guiding device.

Stop extinguishing the fire if you notice it spreads to the upper part of the room or towards the exit and escape outside immediately. Close the windows and doors of the rooms before you leave them. Get out quickly without thinking about values and money. Do not go back.

Use evacuation stairs or emergency stairs for evacuation. Never use the elevators. If you are in an elevator during the fire, please stop on the nearest floor and leave it. If at your evacuation the evacuation routes are smoked, start moving as low as possible because there the temperature is lower and the visibility is better.

If you cannot leave your home due to smoke or high temperature, please go to the bathroom, close the door, place wet towels under the door and wait for the fire personnel.

When you are in premises with many people (theatres, cinemas, sports halls, stadiums, shopping centers, etc.) and a fire alarm is given, please make the following:

• It is essential that you do not panic and stay calm. Your panic can also be handed over to the people around you;
• Please follow the evacuation signs and leave the premises without moving and colliding other people;
• Use evacuation routes and exits to exit the premises. Do not jump from heights;
• Do not return to the building if you have forgotten something.

IN THE EVENT OF FIRE

Please use a fire extinguisher to extinguish small fires. Water can also be used if the fire is not of electrical or chemical nature. If the fire is too large to extinguish, please leave the building immediately. Do not stop, you may not have enough time.

When you go out and you are safe, use a phone and signalize. Wait for fire teams to arrive in a safe place and inform them about the type, size and location of the fire.

If your clothes catch fire, do not run. This will lead to a faster spreading of the fire. Instead of this stop, lie on the ground, cover your face with palms and roll until the fire goes out.

If it is smoked, cover your mouth and nose with a towel or cloth and move low to the ground until you leave the building. Most deaths during fires are due exactly to the effects of smoke. If the door or handle is hot, do not open the door or handle if smoke comes out under and around it, do not open it. This means that the fire is nearby.

If you are locked or blocked in a room, please use strips, wet towels or clothes to plug any cracks and breaks around the door. Please call on telephone number 112 and explain your exact location. You may even leave a sign outside the window to indicate the exact location where you are.

BE PREPARED FOR ESCAPE (EVACUATION)

Plan an escape route and make sure everyone knows it. Do not block the exits. They must always be clear and passable. The best route is the normal way for entry and exit of your home. Think about a backup route in case the first route is blocked. Take a few minutes to rehearse the escape plan. Keep the keys from the doors in places where everyone can find them. Set up a meeting place for all family members in a safe place outside the home.

IN THE KITCHEN

Do not leave the children in the kitchen alone. Keep the matches and pots away from their reach. If you need to leave the kitchen – remove the frying panя from the hotplate or reduce its power.

Be careful if you wear loose clothes. They can be easily ignited. Keep all clothes and towels away from the hot-plates and the grille. The special appliances for spark-feeding are safer for ignition of gas hot-plate than lighters and matches, as they do not have an open flame. Please make sure if you have turned off the hot-plate after you have finished cooking.

Keep electrical appliances and cables away from water. Make sure the toaster is clean and at a safe distance from curtains and paper towels. Keep the oven, hot plate, and grille clean and in good condition. The oil accumulation may cause a fire.

If the oil starts smoking, it is too hot. Switch off the appliance and let it cool down. Use an electric fryer with a control thermostat – this type of fryer cannot overheat.

If the frying pan bursts into flames, do not undertake unnecessary risk. If it is safe, turn off the hotplate. Never throw water on it. Do not extinguish the fire by yourself – go out and call telephone number 112.

IN PUBLIC PLACES

First of all, when you enter an unknown building, make sure that the exits are in position, the availability of fire extinguishers – they can be your salvation.

The most common causes of a fire in a public building are:

• technical failures in electrical, gas and heating appliances and installations;
• overload of electrical installations;
• negligence in the use of appliances and installations;
• failure to comply with safe smoking rules;
• non-compliance with safe distances between heating appliances and combustible materials;
• forgotten switched on electrical appliances;
• children’s game with fire;
• intent.

Regardless of the causes of the fire, we also must be prepared and to know the right actions:

In the event of fire, immediately leave the building using the stairs or external, stable stairs. Follow evacuation signs. Never use the elevators. If you are in an elevator, get down in the quickest way and use stairs. Do not give up to panic. Try to stay calm and calm down the people around you.

When passing through a smoked area, go near to the walls, move bent, low down – there the concentration of dangerous gases is lower. Place a damp cloth to the mouth and nose, wet your clothing, cover exposed body parts with wet towels. If you feel a rise in temperature, this means you are approaching a hazardous area and it is best to change the direction you are moving around. If some of your clothing ignites, do not run at all, so the flame will spread – stop and knock down the burning cloth.

If you are in a crowd of people, fold your arms in the elbows, tilting back, try to keep the pressure, slowly release your space and move forward. If it is not possible to leave the building, try to climb on the roof or go out at the balcony by closing the doors after yourself. If you are blocked in a room, seal the door with towels and clothes, moist yourself with water so that your body does not overheat. Try to report your location and wait for the rescue teams.

At the earliest opportunity, report the fire to the telephone number 112. Safely explain the address, the size of the fire, your location, are there people endangered and injured, etc. do not interrupt the connection, report about any change in the situation.

If the fire is small, try to extinguish it with the available fire extinguishers, an indoor fire hydrant or available devices (water, wet towels or blankets). Remember electrical appliances, live electrical installations and flammable liquids are not extinguished with water. The most effective and safe are powder extinguishers.

If the space is smoked or the fire continues to spread and blocks the exits, immediately go out as you leave the doors closed. After stay in the area of the fire, you must have a medical examination. If any injuries occur, bring them out in clean air, loosen clothing. The burned areas are covered with clean fabric.

CIGARETTES

Most often, household fires start with the firing of upholstered furniture, mattresses or beds. When children live with smokers, they are more likely to cause fire because of the presence and easy access to matches and lighters.

If you are a smoker, take the following precautions:

• If you smoke, go out, blow out your cigarette before you enter back;
• Never smoke around flammable liquids or medicines;
• Never smoke in bed, if you are going to bed, do not light a cigarette – you may easily grow sleepy and cause a fire;
• Do not leave the cigarette ends not extinguished – they may fall on the carpet or the newspaper and they may cause fire and when you extinguish them, make sure that this is really the case;
• When you are tired, under the influence of alcohol or you have taken medicines, take additional measures – you may fall asleep and forget that your cigarette burns.

Children die every year in fires caused by cigarettes, matches and lighters. Keep them out of their reach. Buy lighters equipped with child protection devices. Use heavy and stable ashtrays that do not turn easily and are made of incombustible material. Shake the ash from cigarettes in the ashtrays, not in the trash can. Do not overfill the ashtrays with ash and cigarette ends.

THE CANDLES

Use incombustible and stable candlesticks that are hard to turn over. Do not walk around lit candles – your clothes may be easily lit. Only use candles in areas where children and pets cannot reach them. Place them at a safe distance from flammable objects such as blinds and curtains. Never place lighted candles under stands or shelves. Always pass the candles off when you leave the room or you go to bed.

ELECTRICAL WIRING

Keep electrical wires and plugs in good condition. Do not overload the electrical system – switch on large consumers (accumulation and cooking stoves, boilers, etc.) in autonomous, heavy duty electrical circuits. Avoid the use of electric connection-blocks and extenders. Always use standard electrical fuses.

Switch off electrical devices when not in use. Do not route cables and wires under paths, carpets and the like. Replace any broken or frayed wires. Check, clean and keep all electrical equipment regularly. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for maintenance.

If the appliance produces a strange smell, produces an abnormal sound or the cables heat up, call up a licensed electrician. Put portable heating appliances, electric stoves, irons and other similar appliances at a safe distance from furniture, curtains, carpets etc. Make sure all electrical appliances are manufactured by licensed manufacturers and meet the relevant requirements.

In emergency situations:

• If the appliance produces a strange smell or operates in an unusual manner, unplug the appliance from the electrical network, but only if it is safe.
• If a serious electrical fault occurs in your home, treat it as a fire. Switch off the power supply from the main switch and call the fire service. Report to other occupants. Activate the fire alarm, if any, and immediately leave.

SMOKE DETECTORS

The easiest way to protect your home and family from fire is the smoke detectors. The smoke detector is a stand-alone device supplied by the electrical installation or by batteries which, if smoke is present in the room, alerts by sound-horn. They are cheap, easy to install and have a huge variety of types. They shall be placed on the ceiling or, as a last resort, on the upper part of the walls. Do not place them in or near kitchens and bathrooms where the presence of steam may trigger them in error. For more accurate readings of the air coming into the room, install them at a distance from the air vents.

Many of the fatalities could have been prevented from the smoke detectors. They are the best means of timely alarm and fire detection in the earliest phase. It is desirable that you have one of them on each floor of your home, on the corridor and near any room used as a bedroom. Young children and elderly people sleep deeper, so it is important that there is one detector to each. Test them monthly and replace batteries promptly.

A special detector is required to detect one of the most dangerous gases emitted by fire – carbon monoxide. You should have at least one such detector in your home.

FOREST FIRES

The forest is an important part of the living nature that maintains the planet’s biological balance. It provides shelter for animal species, regulates air currents and rains, protects soils from erosion, purifies the air.

Forest fires cause serious damage to the economy and the environment. They also often lead to human victims. Therefore, we need to know the causes of their occurrence, how to protect ourselves, and how to act in such a disaster. The main reasons for the occurrence of forest fires are negligent, or deliberate human activity or natural phenomena.

The most common causes are:

• unburned matches and cigarette ends are thrown – once they have fallen into the ripe wheat, the dry plants, and the straw, they can easily ignite them;
• Negligent handling of fire by workers, shepherds, hikers, tourists;
• technical failure of machinery and vehicles operating in the forest;
• children’s game with fire;
• self-ignition of substances and materials;
• natural phenomena (lightning);
• short circuit and failures of electrical transmission lines which pass over and near forests;
• uncontrolled ignition of household waste or large parts of dry grass vegetation near woodland;
• intent.

In order to preserve the country’s green wealth, we must strictly observe fire safety rules:

• The throwing of unburned matches and cigarette ends in combustible and flammable environments is not permitted;
• All motor vehicles entering the forests must be of a technical good order with an exhaust system preventing the release or discharge of sparks;
• The fire should not be applied in the forest except in the specially secured areas and marked accordingly. (Before lighting a fire, make sure that you have enough water or other available means of extinguishing it if wind occurs and when leaving the area. Prepare beaters – (pre-set) from a tire or (on-site) green branches to act in the event of a fire.
• Glass bottles should not be thrown away – defects may have the effect of a magnifying glass, resulting in the ignition of dry grass and plant residues;
• Fire lighting on high wind is unacceptable – it is capable of spreading sparks and burning particles at large distances, without the possibility of a timely and adequate reaction;
• The removal of dry branches and waste in forest areas must be done by their carrying at the designated locations-their destruction on-site by incineration is prohibited;
• To prevent self-ignition, fresh hay must be stored only on bundles after it dries entirely;
• In order to prevent fires caused by short-circuit of transmission lines under them shall be formed back entries in the forests to be kept free and clear of dry vegetation;
• Burning the stubble is absolutely prohibited.

Forest owners must be aware that they are obliged to follow and carry out all the forestry activities provided in the forest management regulations.

ACTIONS AT FOREST FIRE

What should we do if we get into a forest fire?

If you notice signs of a fire in the forest (smoke, burning smell and flames), you need to quickly assess the situation – to be oriented toward the location of the fire, the front and direction of combustion movement and the rate of spread.

If there is a risk of a rapid complication, you must seek a safe way to leave the fire area in the opposite direction to the wind or along lakes, rivers and streams. Once you avoid the initial danger, you must report a fire as quickly as possible on telephone number 112, in a nearby hut or tourist spot, in the local forestry or in the town hall of the settlement.

If you have information about people living near the ignition outbreak, from your timely and accurate message will depend on their lives. If the ignition is in an initial phase, you may extinguish it with earth, sand and beaters of green branches.

It is important to protect your clothes from ignition, especially if they are of artificial fabric and to compulsory protect your airways by wet towels or other personal protective equipment.

The consequences of forest fires are multilateral:

• Ecological – deforestation and soil erosion. Changing water flow, disrupting the thermal and water balance of ecosystems. Destruction of unique deposits of rare protected species, limitation of biodiversity. Deterioration of the sanitary status of forests. Reducing the CO2-absorption capacity.
• Economic – Forest resource wastage after years of investment – wood waste. Extraordinary earmarking of funds to mitigate harmful effects. Reducing land productivity and deteriorating growth conditions. Decrease of revenues.
• Social – worsening of the micro-climate and business conditions. A decline in tourist business. Limiting livelihood possibilities and unification of the population. Depopulation of the areas.