Firemen and rescuers observe their professional day on the first day of spring. Due to their prompt actions, it was managed to save 738 persons and goods to the total sum of MDL 192 mln in 2006. According to the head of the Exceptional Situations Department (ESD) Andrei Shumleanski, the subdivision he leads meets this day with good results. The subdivision of firemen and rescuers managed to liquidate 2541 fires in 2006. Regrettably, the cited source says over 300 persons, including 16 children died in those 141 exceptional situations occurred in 2006 in Moldova. The goods lost worth MDL 160 mln. ESD, the former Civil Defence was created according to the Decree 24 (December 24, 1991) on the Civil Defence of Moldova. This document stipulated taking under the jurisdiction of Moldova the General Staff of the Civil Defence, commandment institutions and bodies, as well as the military units of the Civil Defence of the USSR located on the territory of the republic. The decree stipulated that all the goods of the General Staff of the Civil Protection of Moldova and of the subordinated institutions located on the territory of the country are property of Moldova. The professional day of the rescuers, instituted in 1992, coincides with the International Day of Civil Defence declared by the International Civil Defence Organisation.