“Last night, we managed to control a possible larger scale of pollution: a large part of the contaminated water from the fire site could enter our surface sewage networks and go to Neris. Specialists of the Department of Environmental Protection, our service companies worked promptly, the valves were closed, and that water did not flow out of the territory.
It was pumped while the fire was going on, and then it was taken out and stored as hazardous waste,” V. Benkunskas told reporters in the municipality on Thursday.
He also warns residents that while the risk of air pollution is gone Thursday, facilities and residents entering the fire area are advised to clean surfaces due to particulate matter.
“There is no danger of air pollution at this minute, that cloud has floated away. In any case, solids need to be dealt with. There is a recommendation to tidy up the surfaces (wet cleaning) in that area for both residents and companies or institutions – everyone needs to tidy up the surfaces, as well as textiles, curtains and the like, where those particles could have settled”, said V. Benkunskas.
On Friday, educational institutions are recommended to continue working remotely
The mayor of the city of Vilnius also pointed out that on Thursday, most of the 40 kindergartens in the area affected by the fire continued to work.
“Most of the 40 kindergartens were working, but their workload was less than 50%. Parents could bring their children to kindergarten, they could be accepted, but the load was really light. And out of 22 schools, only 5 conducted classes physically. All others worked remotely,” said the mayor of the capital.
V. Benkunskas also emphasized that the danger of air pollution has passed, but the municipality recommends that the educational institutions located in the area affected by the fire continue to work remotely on Friday.
“The recommendation to work remotely is also tomorrow, Friday, when it is possible to deal with all the work with surfaces, washing, so that after the Easter holidays it is possible to return safely”, emphasized V. Benkunskas.
“There is no risk of air pollution now. Every institution can perform hygienic cleaning work in a fast way and after cleaning the surfaces or textile products, it is possible to safely return to the classrooms and continue the work. But every school has to evaluate it, because every case is individual,” said the mayor.
V. Benkunskas: there was a lack of communication between the services
Mayor V. Benkunskas missed informing public health specialists about the disaster that befell the capital.
“What we expect from the services is for everyone to do their job, and we’ve already seen that we have a large-scale fire, in the first probably 15-20 minutes there should have been a response, how people should behave, what to know, what to avoid and so on. And public health specialists should have ensured that, unfortunately, we missed such an active reaction, so both I and the director of administration announced through our communication channels what the cloud of this harmful smoke is and what people who will feel the effects of the smoke should do,” said V. Benkunsk.
On Wednesday evening, the mayor and other municipal officials informed residents via the social network Facebook and other means of information that due to the pollution caused by the huge fire, it is not allowed to be outside and the windows should be closed.
“Actually, that reaction was missing. We understand that in the event of an emergency, it is very important to properly inform the public by reassuring or providing information on what needs to be done,” said the head of the capital.
Mayor: scrapyards should not remain in city centers
V. Benkunskas, the mayor of the city of Vilnius, believes that such scrap yards should not remain in the centers of larger cities.
“We need decisions from the Seimas and the Ministry of the Environment <...> – to terminate the pollution permits and to say that such activities cannot take place,” V. Benkunskas said.
“The Ministry of the Environment has taken certain steps – from next year, those requirements will become stricter, but again, they will apply to new entities, new businesses that want to establish themselves – they are automatically pushed out of the city.” And as for those who are there now, have been working for 10-20 years and have permits, we have to wait either for similar disasters or for their own solution,” said the mayor.
The fire was contained within a few hours
According to Donatas Gurevičius, head of the Civil Protection Department of the Vilnius Fire Rescue Board, the fire was localized within a few hours of receiving the report.
“The general emergency center received a report about the fire yesterday at around 6:32 p.m. Within an hour, a warning message was sent to the mobile phones of the nearest residents within a radius of two km,” said D. Gurevičius.
“The fire was localized around 8 p.m. Localization means that the fire is not spreading any further and the existing forces are completely sufficient,” he added.
According to D. Gurevičius, there were representatives of other forces at the rescue headquarters all the time: policemen, medics, environmentalists.
According to him, no one was killed or injured in the fire. According to D. Gurevičius, at the peak of the fire, the focus of the fire covered about 1300 square meters. meters.
Warning messages were sent only to residents within a radius of 2 km
According to D. Gurevičius, warning messages about the fire were sent only to residents within a radius of 2 kilometers from the fire’s source.
“A decision was made to evacuate residents within a radius of 2 kilometers from the outbreak. Maybe it wasn’t communicated clearly and even now people are asking why they didn’t get the message. <...>. By the decision of the leaders of the rescue work, the nearest residents from that place were informed about the threat and sent to lt72.lt. At the same time, we monitored the information space and urged residents to close their windows,” he assured.
So far, according to D. Gurevičius, there are no versions of why the fire could have started.
“We have some footage, because part of the company’s territory was filmed. Versions cannot be approved or rejected. First of all, it is necessary to determine the focus of the fire, the area from which the fire started,” he explained.
Forecasters predict light rain in Vilnius, but it will not help to eliminate the effects of the fire
Vilnius Mayor V. Benkunskas is recommending residents and businesses to wet clean surfaces due to solid particles after a large fire on Paneriu street, forecasters say that in the near future, light rain is expected in the capital, which will not help liquidate the effects of the fire.
“It will rain, but it won’t be heavy rain, we don’t need to expect heavy rain, it can rain at night and in the morning, the amount of precipitation will be small,” Gytis Valaika, representative of the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service, told Elta.
According to him, it would take a heavy rain to wash away the solid particles after a big fire.
According to G. Valaikas, significant precipitation can be expected in Vilnius next week.
After the fire that broke out on Panerių Street in the capital on Wednesday evening, the police officers of Vilnius County announce that they have started a pre-trial investigation.
According to law enforcement, the investigation was initiated due to the violation of the rules of environmental protection or use of natural resources.
Anyone who has violated these rules established by legal acts, if serious environmental consequences have arisen as a result, shall be punished by a fine or restriction of liberty, or arrest, or imprisonment for up to six years.
Bilotaitė: facilities such as car scrap yards should not be near residential houses
Responding to the fire that occurred on Wednesday in the territory of the Vilnius train station, the Minister of the Interior, Agnė Bilotaitė, says that objects such as car scrap yards should not be located near residential houses or near the city center.
“These things are more environmental, but if you ask my opinion about the presence of such objects in cities, city centers, then of course I think it is a very big source of danger.
Decisions should be such that those objects should not be located near residential houses. Decision-makers should do that”, said A. Bilotaitė during the Government Hour in the Seimas on Thursday.
She noted that the Fire Protection and Rescue Department (PAGD) conducts scheduled and unscheduled inspections at dangerous facilities, and the aforementioned scrapyard was inspected in 2022.
“Neither according to environmental protection nor according to fire prevention parameters, this company was not dangerous.
It did not have explosive materials, dangerous waste, it is not the kind of company that must have sanitary protection zones, it operates in an industrial area. Neither PAGD nor the Department of Environmental Protection classified it as dangerous,” said S. Gentvilas.
He said on his Facebook account on Thursday morning that it is obvious that car dismantling and scrap metal handling should not take place in city centers.
ELTA reminds that on Wednesday evening a fire broke out in the landfill located on Panerių Street 56, during which the open flame burned about 5 thousand. square meter area. The fire was extinguished on Thursday morning.
About 60 firefighters from the capital worked at the scene at night, and several crews are on duty during the day.
Aleksandras Zubriakovs, Director of Corporate Affairs of Lietuvos Geležinkelių (LTG) Group, stated that the fire started on the territory of Lietuvos Geležinkelių. However, the company UAB “Ruvis” is currently located in the area where the fire broke out.
If it turns out that the fire broke out on the territory of LTG in Vilnius on Wednesday due to the tenant’s fault, the LTG group will consider the possibility of terminating the contract with the Ruvis company, the company announced on Thursday.
After the fire on Panerių Street, it is recommended to continue remote work for some of the capital’s educational institutions on Friday
After the fire that broke out on Panerių Street in the capital city on Wednesday evening, the Vilnius City Municipality recommends that part of the education and training institutions continue remote work on Friday.
Also, on Friday, the municipality does not recommend the small residents of the capital to go to pre-school educational institutions that fall into the fire pollution zone.
According to the Vilnius municipality, these recommendations were prepared taking into account the fact that the smoke from the fire is toxic and can cause negative health effects.
The release states that schools located in areas affected by fire smoke are currently being cleaned in accordance with the recommendations of the National Public Health Center (NVSC).
On Thursday, education was carried out remotely by most of the schools under the municipality.
Due to increased pollution, the National Public Health Center (NVSC) recommended that educational institutions in the districts of Naujamiestis and Karoliniškii continue the education process remotely on Thursday.
