In case of fire or another emergency situation, the intervention teams can meet with difficulties in reaching an apartment in the block owing to the things placed on the stairs, including on the landing. The evacuation of persons from the block can also be hampered in such a situation. However, the dwellers can be obliged to free the access ways only at the insistence of neighbors who notify the apartment building manager. The police intervene if the problem is not solved. 

Contacted by IPN, Diana Turcan, press officer of the Civil Protection and Emergencies Service, said the Service’s inspectors annually check the fire safety in apartment buildings. If violations are identified, including the blocking of access ways with things and furniture, the managers of apartment buildings are warned. The checks are rerun and, if the irregularities are not removed, fines of up to 4,000 lei are being imposed. The fine is imposed on the manager who, for his part, notifies the dwellers who deposit things. But there are cases when the manager does not react to the requests of rescuers. In such a case, the dwellers bothered by the presence of the stored things can go directly to the police.

Diana Turcan called on the dwellers to follow the recommendations of apartment building managers and to keep the access ways free as the blocking of these ways endangers their lives and the lives of neighbors.