Maintaining Order: How to Avoid Being in Rescue Reports
Unfortunately, every year people who wanted to tidy up their yards or remove last year's grass and debris end up in the rescuers' reports, finishing with a call to "112". However, not only burning dry vegetation or a bonfire with last year's leaves can pose a danger.
Flammable liquids. Landscaping can end in tragedy if, while refueling any equipment using gasoline (lawn mowers, tillers, etc.), you have an ignition source. Special attention should be paid to tidying up garages: here, oily rags, containers storing traces of flammable liquids and gasoline are most often found. It only takes a small spark for a disaster to occur. Most often, careless smokers who forget basic rules end up in the rescuers' practice, suffering burns. Sometimes it ends with a flash of vapors and minor injuries, sometimes – 90% burns and fatal outcomes.
Hands, feet, and other body parts in the blades of various equipment. Safety rules, unfortunately, are most often written in the blood of victims and the injured. Just this week, rescuers were called to free a man's leg from a tiller while he was plowing a garden. His pant leg got caught in the tiller, pinching his leg in the mechanism. Therefore, during agricultural work, follow the safety rules specified in the instructions for the devices. Always tuck in shirts and pants to prevent them from getting caught in the equipment. Be attentive and cautious. Do not allow children and teenagers to use such equipment.
Basements, cellars, and wells. Accidents in wells often become resonant, as under the most unfavorable circumstances, not only the person working inside may die, but also the person who rushed to save the victim. The insidiousness is that the main cause of such emergencies is the accumulation of gas. Usually, this is methane, which is released during decay and has no smell or color. It accumulates in basements, sewer wells, and cellars. Just a few breaths can lead to suffocation. That is why you should entrust the cleaning of wells and work in them to specially trained people from specialized organizations or enterprises that not only know about safety techniques but also have the appropriate equipment and devices.
Burning dry vegetation. This year, there are already examples of people burning grass – one person burned down half a village. And the fact that only a few residential houses remain does not make it much easier. The raging flames can harm not only property but also the arsonist or people who accidentally find themselves at the fire scene.
Most often, the situation develops according to the following scenario. From an unattended bonfire or a patch of burning grass, the fire spreads to buildings and trees due to the wind. At a wind speed of 1 meter per second, the fire front can travel about 60 meters in 15 minutes, and if the wind speed is 5 meters, it increases to 350.
To avoid disaster, it is necessary to follow these recommendations:
– do not burn accumulated garbage in windy weather. Do not leave a burning fire unattended. If you dare to tidy up by lighting a bonfire, remember that this can only be done in calm weather, at a distance from buildings, trees, straw stacks, etc. And always have a sufficient supply of firefighting means – this can be water, sand, fire extinguishers;
– carefully extinguish cigarette butts and matches before throwing them away;
– if you notice a fire – do not walk past. You can extinguish the starting grass fire yourself. When extinguishing with improvised means, you can beat down the flames from the edge of the fire with a bundle of sticks or branches of deciduous trees, or throw sand on the edge of the fire;
– after extinguishing the fire, do not leave until you are sure that the fire will not reignite.