Almost a month ago, when one of the apartment buildings in the Pilaitė district of Vilnius caught fire, although it ended happily, the echoes of the disaster can still be heard to this day. Residents share that at the time of the fire, rescue service vehicles were unable to reach the burning apartment building. It is feared that in the event of a major disaster, people may even lose their lives as a result. The representatives of the Vilnius Fire Protection and Rescue Department (PAGD) say that the problem, when the vehicles of the rescue services cannot reach apartment buildings, is actually encountered in almost the entire city, but they are actively working with the Vilnius City Municipality on this.
In Vilnius, Pilaitė district, on October 24, in an apartment building, he was born fire - firefighters evacuated 22 adults and 12 children from the building. When firefighters arrived, they saw black smoke coming from a two-room apartment. The fire started in the apartment on the 4th floor.
However, even though more serious consequences were avoided, the residents of Pilaitė are worried that in the event of a similar disaster, the firefighters may simply not have the opportunity to save people from the burning apartment building next time. Citizens started discussing this in their community group on the Facebook social network.
In the group, people shared that during the fire, the firefighters and their vehicles could not approach the apartment building from the yard side, which caused a greater threat to the residents who were on the higher floors of the burning apartment building, who remained trapped in the building.
People also discussed that although special gates are made for special service vehicles to pass into the yards, they are often blocked by residents' cars, because there is simply a lack of parking spaces.
"Everyone is well aware that there is a shortage of parking spaces in any Vilnius micro-district, or even in all of them, so residents park them wherever they can. One is punished, the other is taken away by the trawl, but the fundamental problem does not change. And here we're not talking about protecting the grass or the comfort of passers-by, but about people's lives," Pilaitė resident Idilija told reporters.
According to the citizen, in the event of a fire, the rescue services do not have the opportunity to reach the scene.
"The fire that broke out in one of Pilaitė's apartment buildings on the night of October 24 perfectly showed what kind of powder keg a large part of Vilnius residents live on. First of all, since the fire started in the apartment not from the street, but from the side of the yard, it was physically impossible to reach the fire from the outside. Narrow passageways, arches, cars left for the night "where they go out", - shares Idilija.
In addition, the resident points out that there were other problems with the evacuation of residents in the nine-story stairwell, where the apartment burned.
The woman claims that in the case of an emergency, the passages made between the balconies on the upper floors of many houses are closed. Therefore, in the event of a fire, residents have no way to escape from the fire.
"Both of these "exclamation marks" caught fire In Pilaite that October night, only this time very happily - the people who were woken up either left the house and escaped through the smoke-filled stairwell, or were brought up from the street side of the tower. No one was hurt. Only one dog.
And what will happen next time? Is it necessary to wait for the next time? I would really like to see these things resolved now. Fire safety is not just a letter on paper - it saves people's lives," says the resident of Pilaitė.
Problems occur all over the city
Osvaldas, the representative of the Vilnius Fire Rescue Board (PGV), claims that the firefighters are really familiar with this problem, and a certain problem, due to the fact that it is more difficult for the firefighters to reach certain apartment buildings, prevails throughout the city.
"There is a certain problem. It is directly related to the height of the building, and when it comes to multi-unit residential buildings, the higher or bigger the building, the more residents live in it. This causes more parking around the buildings, which can lead to difficulties in rescue operations, because then there are more parking lots and the like", says the representative of Vilnius PGV.
Despite this, the interlocutor claims that the firefighters deal with this problem and are able to complete the assigned work. The fire in Pilaite is no exception.
"The fire extinguishing works were carried out according to the full procedure. Firefighters made the safest decision based on the actual circumstances to ensure the full safety of people," he says.
However, the representative of Vilnius PGV said that it is not possible to single out the districts of Vilnius where it would be more difficult to carry out rescue work, because each district has its own nuances, for example, different heights of buildings or the layout of the district itself.
"In general, there are more problems with densely populated areas. I would like to single out not exactly districts, but those places where apartment buildings are densely presented and there is a lack of parking spaces", comments the representative of Vilnius PGV.
Therefore, according to him, in order to solve the problem of firemen's access to the scene, first of all, the capital should consider the installation of various types of parking lots (high-rise, underground, open) for vehicles.
It is true that, although the interviewee singles out the lack of parking spaces as the main obstacle for firefighters trying to curb the disaster, other problems are also sometimes encountered.
For example, the passageways of special services vehicles are lined with flower pots, or bicycle storage spaces are installed there, or children's playgrounds are built there.
"All this also causes the problem that firefighters and rescuers cannot maneuver freely with equipment. And when there is no possibility to maneuver freely, it complicates the work itself and slightly lengthens the time of response and work execution", says the representative of Vilnius PGV.
Active cooperation with the municipality
The interlocutor adds that the problem of firefighters' access to the scene is also solved in other ways, for example, special road signs are installed, according to which residents are prohibited from parking vehicles on certain road sections.
"This is an information panel coordinated with the municipality "Emergency help for your safety". The sign shows that this road is intended for the access of fire equipment and this prohibits parking," says the representative of Vilnius VPG.
He asserts that there is currently active cooperation with the Vilnius city municipality to determine which streets in the city of Vilnius have more difficulties for firefighters during rescue operations.
"At the moment, we are really actively communicating both with the mayor and with the municipal departments, evaluating their and our own opportunities. We are trying to contribute ourselves in order to find out how to ensure all the possible safety of the inhabitants of the city", comments the interviewer.
In addition, the representative of Vilnius VPG asks that the residents themselves remain conscious and responsible - to follow the traffic rules (KET), would encourage their relatives and acquaintances to do the same.
And if you see that someone has parked a car on the passage intended for firefighters, they would report it to the responsible authorities.
"Currently, we see a positive trend in terms of population awareness. Residents are becoming aware, we see a really positive and positive trend in that matter. We hope that the residents will remain social and conscious in the future as well", says the representative of Vilnius VPG.
Last year, they wrote 82 thousand. protocols
Vilnius city municipalities according to representative Gabrielias Grubinskas, control of parking and parking procedures is carried out by public order officers of the Vilnius municipality.
Last year, according to the representative of the municipality, a total of 82 fines were issued to residents for such fixed violations. protocols.
"If an improperly parked car not only violates the Road Traffic Rules (RET), but also obstructs safe traffic, obstructs passing, a forced towing is carried out. Police officers also control the parking order," adds G. Grubinskas.
True, the representative of the capital city municipality says that the municipality does not have the capacity to prevent all parking violations. However, according to G. Grubinska, cars parked in compliance with the KET and following the road signs do not prevent the vehicles of special services from passing.
"If there is a danger and the responding special services cannot pass by improperly parked cars, the decisions in such situations are made by the special services themselves," adds G. Grubinskas.
Author: Arnas Cvirka, TV3.lt
