After the fire that broke out in the car scrapyard in Vilnius, the damage to nature amounts to almost 6 million. euros and the consequences of which were felt by residents due to extremely toxic fumes, it was hastened to announce that car dismantling and scrap metal handling must not take place in city centers. However, the Vice Minister of Environment Raminta Radavičienė assures Elta that there are currently no specific proposals or projects that would imperatively regulate the selection of sites for dangerous activities and objects at the national level. She also points out that from 2025 changes to the General Fire Safety Rules are pending.
For his part, the Minister of the Environment, Simonas Gentvilas, considers the implementation of such activities in city centers a problem and assures that he will help solve it in 2025. new fire prevention standards coming into effect, which will encourage companies to move away from residential areas, thus reducing the consequences of incidents.
PAGD: 16 fires in processing plants in four years
Jūris Targonskis, head of the State Fire Protection Board of the Fire Protection and Rescue Department (PAGD), emphasizes that in economic entities that are registered as recycling companies, from 2020 so far there have been a total of 16 fires, which is 0.04 percent. of all fires that occurred in the named years (2 fires occurred in 2024, 4 in 2023, 5 in 2022, 2 in 2021, 3 in 2020).
“The number of fires in such objects is only a few hundredths of a percentage,” clarifies J. Targonskis.
However, the specialist emphasizes that when such objects are burning, dark smoke is usually released into the air, which is often harmful, so firefighters recommend residents to stay indoors and close the windows.
There are no specific proposals to regulate the selection of locations for dangerous activities or objects
After the fire on the territory of “Lietuvos Geležinkelių”, where the car waste management company “Ruvis” is located, the Minister of the Interior, Agnė Bilotaitė, emphasized that objects such as a car scrap yard should not be located near residential houses or near the city center.
The Minister of the Environment S. Gentvilas also said that it is obvious that the dismantling of cars and the handling of scrap metal should not take place in city centers.
For her part, the Vice Minister of the Environment R. Radavičienė Eltai states that although civil safety is currently one of the priority areas of state management, in the regulation of which many changes are taking place and various options are being considered to increase the safety of residents, there are currently no specific plans to regulate the location of dangerous activities or objects.
“At the moment, there are no specific proposals or projects, which would imperatively regulate dangerous activities and sites at the national level,” she emphasizes.
The number of fires in such objects reaches only a few hundredths of a percentage.
The vice-minister also emphasizes that, according to the current regulations, self-government has the most leverage to plan economic activities, as well as to manage dangerous objects and the threats they pose to the population.
“Everything starts with territorial planning solutions, according to which the basic conditions and restrictions for activities are determined in different places of cities, districts, and zones. Later, the municipality evaluates construction projects, issues documents allowing construction, controls the safety of structures, conducts a risk assessment of emergency situations that may arise in the territory administered by the municipality, prepares emergency management plans, etc.,” the vice minister says.
From 2025 – Changes to general fire safety rules
R. Radavičienė also emphasizes that every fire, no matter what object it is in, is related not only to a threat to people and property, but also to a significant negative impact on the environment, which is why the Ministry of the Environment is very concerned about this area.
“We are actively working with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Department of Fire Protection and Rescue, looking for effective solutions that would reduce the likelihood of fires and other industrial accidents and/or mitigate their consequences,” says the Deputy Minister.
According to her, the latest regulatory change in this area is the amendments to the General Fire Safety Regulations (FGST).
“They determine the permissible sizes of waste piles, distances between piles, to buildings, pile heights, as well as the requirement that waste piles cannot occupy more than 65 percent of the area. of the area of the site – the rest of the territory must be left free for the organization of possible fire extinguishing works, etc.,” the ELTA interlocutor says.
“The changes will tighten the storage conditions of combustible waste, thus reducing the probability of fires, their occurrence and duration of management. The Fire Protection and Rescue Department is currently coordinating the BGST project with interested institutions and the public,” she adds.
In the “ELTA corner” program, S. Gentvilas assured that from 2025 new fire prevention standards coming into effect that will require landfills to break down piles of waste should stop such fires in the future.
He also emphasized that the new requirements will encourage companies to move away from residential areas, thus reducing the consequences of incidents.
“It will be more difficult for them (waste handlers – ELTA) to establish themselves in cities, which means that such spaces will no longer be suitable for them,” said the politician.
Companies already have to comply with strict rules
Vice Minister of the Environment R. Radavičienė also notes that waste management operators, like any other potentially dangerous production operators, must comply with fire safety, use of dangerous equipment, use of structures, maintenance, environmental protection and many other rules related to operational safety , which are intended to prevent fires or other accidents and to minimize their consequences.
“Unusable vehicles, their parts or materials must be collected and processed in non-residential buildings: service purpose (only in car repair shops), garage purpose, production and industrial purpose (only in factories, workshops, production industry processing plants), storage purpose and other ( in buildings used for farms, farms”, R. Radavičienė clarifies.
“The assembly company must have an area for the collection and storage of unusable vehicles, groundwater quality monitoring is carried out in accordance with the procedure established in the Monitoring Regulations, if untreated unusable vehicles are stored in an open area,” she adds.
Department of Environmental Protection: Dozens of hazardous and potentially hazardous facilities are inspected each year
In turn, the representatives of the Department of Environmental Protection (AAD) inform that, according to the cooperation agreement with the Department of Fire Protection and Rescue, annual joint inspections of objects that cause environmental damage in the event of a fire – environmental pollution, spillage, etc. – would be very big.
“During the past year, the Environmental Protection Department together with the Fire Protection and Rescue Department participated in 83 joint inspections,” AAD specialists comment.
“In addition, during the last year, the Department of Environmental Protection assessed 30.8 thousand the risk of activities carried out by objects to be controlled. Prepared a facility inspection plan and inspected 2,198 facilities in a planned manner,” they add.
ELTA reminds that approximately 5,000 square meters were burned during the fire that broke out at the end of March in the capital, on Panerių street. m area, and the piles of waste reached a height of 9 meters.
At that time, the air quality research station operating in Savanorių Avenue, closest to the fire site, showed almost 6 times higher concentration of solid particles than before the fire.
The National Public Health Center emphasized that the smoke arising during a fire is particularly toxic, so residents were recommended to close windows, turn off recuperation systems, not to be outside, and the following day, educational and educational institutions entering the zone affected by fire pollution were recommended to carry out the educational process through the distance
The environmental damage caused by the fire on the territory of “Lietuvos Geležinkeliai” may reach 5.8 million. euros.
According to Inga Gulbikienė, the prosecutor leading the pre-trial investigation into the fire, various versions of the origin of the fire are currently being investigated, and no suspicions have been presented to anyone yet. A pre-trial investigation has been launched into the fire.
Tags: Ministry Environment fire scrapyard proposals regulate places dangerous activities
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