Analysis of the situation with fires and their consequences on the territory of the Russian Federation
Authors:   Voronezh Institute of FSEP  (Federal Service for the Execution of Punishments) of Russia, KALACH Andrey V. , KAPUSTIN Aleksander A. ,   Saint Petersburg University of State Fire Service of EMERCOM   of Russia named after Hero of the Russian Federation Army General E. N. Zinichev, SHAVALEEV Marat R. ,   Ural Institute of the State Fire Service of EMERCOM of Russia
Published: October 2024

Purpose. The article analyzes the situation with fires and their consequences on the territory of the Russian Federation in the period from 2018 to 2022. The features of fires recording and their consequences at the facilities with mass presence of people are considered. The following indicators were analyzed and compared: the number of fires recorded over a selected period of time, the number of people evacuated from buildings before the maximum values of hazardous fire factors were reached, as well as people rescued by fire and rescue units, the number of people injured and died in fires, direct material damage caused by fires, the number of fires with group fatalities (5 people and more). The relationship between these indicators and the number of storeys of the building has been revealed. The research is aimed at improving organizational and (or) technical measures intended to decrease the indicators that make up the unified state system of statistical recording of fires and their consequences. Methods. The authors used methods of system analysis, probability theory and statistics. Findings. The results of the analysis of data on fires and their consequences on the territory of Russia in the period from 2018 to 2022 are summarized. The number of fires, recorded starting from 2019, decreases every year by 35–40 thousand, with the exception of 2018 and 2019 (since changes to the Procedure for recording fires and their consequences came into force on January 1, 2019). The number of people died in fires during the period under review changes in a sinusoidal manner, i.e. from 2018 to 2019 there is an increase in fire deaths by 7.6 %, from 2019 to 2020 there is a decrease by 2.9 %, from 2020 to 2021 there is an increase by 1.9 % and from 2021 to 2022 there is a decrease by 8.6 %. The number of people injured in fires is decreasing every year: if in 2018 this figure was 9 642, then in 2022 - 8 140. The number of fires with group fatalities (5 people or more), as well as the number of people died in these fires, in the period from 2018 to 2022 changes in the same order as the number of people died in fires, that is, in a sinusoidal manner. Research application field. The results of the study can be used by specialists of the State Fire Service, who carry out official statistical recording and state statistical reporting on fires and their consequences, as well as by persons engaged in scientific or work activities in the field of fire and their consequences statistics. Conclusions. It is concluded that there is currently no promising trend for reducing the number of fires with group fatalities. At the same time, every year there is a decrease in the number of people saved in fires, this may be due to the fact that when a fire occurs, people manage to evacuate from buildings and structures before the maximum values of the HFF are reached. Due to the fact that the majority of fires occur in low-rise buildings and structures up to 5 storeys high, when developing, for example, a technology to reduce the fatalities in fires, as a result of peoples’ prompt rescue from the fire zone, it is worth paying special attention to the design features of rescue equipment for this high-rise (storey) category of buildings and structures. Development of special technical devices that operate using external power supply (for example, a car lift, a ladder-truck, etc.), or special technical devices that operate on the principle of smooth reducing drop energy when falling from a height, will reduce the amount of time required to conduct a rescue operation.