Fire safety rules to be taught in classrooms

Starting on September 1, schoolchildren and students will learn more about the threats posed by fire. All the educational establishments will include in their curricula courses on fire prevention and protection rules, formulated by the Ministry of Education and Youth in concert with the Emergency Situations Department. “The implementation of the project will enable training of youngsters so that they are able to prevent fires and act promptly in case fires break out”, says Liliana Puscasu, PR officer of the Firefighters Department. According to the authors, the curriculum is based on the subjects proposed by the Emergency Situations Department (ESD) of the Interiors Ministry. The course will be taught as part of homeroom classes for the grades I-IV; V-XII, in colleges, vocational schools and universities. In the first six months of 2007, on the territory of the country there were registered 1,362 fires (on average 8 daily), compared with 1,228 registered in the similar period last year. According to the ESD, fires caused damages estimated at 13.7 million lei. In this period, 106 persons died in fires, including 5 children.