The number of operations performed by rescuers and firefighters has increased the past ten years. According to representatives of the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, the number of vegetation fires also rose. In the first eight months of this year, the firefighters extinguished over 9,000 vegetation fires that affected more than 54,000 ha of land, IPN reports.
The Inspectorate’s head Alexandru Oprea told a news conference that 410 persons experiencing emergencies were saved this year. Of them, 235 were children. The saved goods were estimated at about 257 million lei.
As of February 24, together with the start of the war in Ukraine, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations has dealt with one more challenge. The rescuers worked with mates from other subdivisions of the Ministry of the Interior to help refugees. Following the activation of the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism by requests for assistance, the institution managed over 40 lots of assistance.
Referring to cooperation with foreign partners, Alexandru Oprea also spoke about the implementation of a number of projects and about the importance of signing the grant contract with the Government of Japan that already entered the active phase of implementation of the project financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Nineteen firefighting vehicles to the total value of over 220 million lei are to be purchased as part of the project. The vehicles will be distributed to ten subdivisions in five Moldovan localities.
Also, a grant contract for the implementation of the project to create two dispatcher’s offices – one in Bălți and another one in Romania’s Iasi – was signed with the EU in the first half of the year. The grant for Moldova is of about €1 million and is to be used to set up and operationalize the North dispatcher’s office that will serve the municipality of Bălți and another 11 districts in northern Moldova.
