On the last day of the year, firefighters were called to 240 locations across the country: 123 for fires and 117 for technical rescue situations.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Dániel Mukics, 55 buildings caught fire on New Year’s Eve, and in 48 cases the fire occurred outdoors. Firefighters also responded to nine carbon monoxide incidents and five situations involving animals in distress.
The spokesperson told MTI that while last year firefighters attended only 162 incidents on New Year’s Eve, this year they were called out one and a half times more. However, they were dispatched less frequently due to fireworks—last year 45 times, this year only 37.
This year, fireworks depots or leftover fireworks ignited 12 times, and dry grass, leaves, or reed caught fire at eight locations due to pyrotechnics. Fireworks also caused five outbuildings, three waste bins, three trees, one car, and in several places accumulated junk to catch fire, he listed.
Specific incidents included: the rear and trunk of a car in Jákfa; a 12-square-meter wood storage in Debrecen; a 12-square-meter storage attached to a family house in Dombóvár; 20 cubic meters of firewood and a 30-square-meter wood storage in Szentes; 150 square meters of reeds in Dunakeszi; a six-square-meter yard wood storage in Nagycenk; firewood and its covering foil in a garden in Kissikátor; accumulated garden waste in Győr; multiple cardboard boxes burning in a garden in Hajdúszoboszló; and in Újfehértó, a waste bin and a garage door and roof caught fire due to used and still-hot fireworks.
Dániel Mukics told MTI that the early Thursday morning warehouse fire in Mosonmagyaróvár may also have been caused by some kind of pyrotechnic device. Disaster management has launched a fire investigation to determine the cause of the blaze.
The spokesperson also reported that due to wintry weather, firefighters were called to 32 vehicles that were stuck, overturned, collided, or slid into ditches.
Firefighters were also dispatched to help animals in distress: in Szentes, a dog that fell into a sewer was rescued; in Cserszegtomaj, a dog’s leg was caught in a fence and firefighters cut the fence to free it; in Velence, a frozen swan in Lake Velence had to be rescued; in Dunaharaszti, a deer stuck in mud was freed; and in Kálló, firefighters rescued a pony that had fallen into a water valve pit, Mukics Dániel summarized.
(MTI)
