CENTRE PLUS NEWS No. 6, 2014

FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICES (Fire and Rescue Station)

In this issue of the newspaper we are going to discuss fire prevention measures and suggest, how to re-duce its ravages. Also we are going to advice, what to do in the case of emergency. Fire and rescue station has been operating since the early years of independence of Lithu-ania. The main functions of it are as follows: extinguishing fires and rescue, international aid, fire pre-vention, fire and civil protection training, fire rescue training, and so on. Fire is out of control burn-ing. Within 30 seconds a small fire in a fireplace may turn out of control, after 2 minutes there is a risk to life, and within 5 minutes the fire can cover the whole house. The leading cause of death in a fire is asphyxiation after breathing the products of fire/ burning, i.e. smoke and toxic gases. A person can lose consciousness and suffocate

or poison in less than 2 minutes. If a fire started in the room and smoke began to accumulate rap-idly – get on the floor and crawl very quickly towards the exit. At the bottom, under the smoke, it is easier to breathe and better to see. Do not use elevators in case of fire but hurry away downstairs. Emer-gency number 112 is the number for unexpected disasters or threats to life, health, safety, the environ-ment or damage to property. In these cases, the main emergen-cy services can be called: police, fire and rescue services, and am-bulance. Calling this number it is necessary to explain clearly, what have happened, to give a correct address and the name of location from where you are calling, and to say your name and phone number. One tenth of all fires rise becauseof irregular electrical devices

or due to improper use of elec-tricity. The most common reasonsfor fires in electricity system are these: water near electri-cal wires, overloaded electrici-ty system, bare and not insulat-ed or hanging electrical wires.

Keep from getting wet elec-trical wiring, sockets, plugs or electrical devices. Do not place the vases with flow-ers or potted flowers on TV or mi-crowave ovens. Regularly check that an electric kettle does not leak, do not pour water in it, when it is plugged in. If an electrical device begins to smoke or burn, first of all it must be disconnected from the power outlet, and only then you can start to extinguish it. If you cannot turn off the power, then you can use only carbon dioxide or drypowder fire extinguishers.

Centre Plus News No.6, 2014

Water should never be used to extinguish this type of fire. An-other cause of fires is overloaded power supply, when too many electrical devices are activat-ed at the same time. Suddenly wires start to heat up and the rubber insulation of wires burns up. This can ignite items which are near, the wooden ceiling and walls. It is not recommended to plug more than 1,200 watts of power of household electrical devices into one electrical outlet. . For example, electrical devices in the U.S. are adapted to oper-ate at 110 V and usually burn out when plugged into 220 V European electrical system and Lithuanian as well. Meanwhile, electrical devices produced in the Middle East operate at 220 V, and therefore are suitable for use in Europe and Lithuania as well. It is also important to re-member a few simple things - connecting any electrical de-vice, turn the plug in position that could not break the cable.

Do not leave electrical devices alive at night. Danger signals that warn us about the messy electric-ity system or other problems are hot sockets and cartridges, prob-lems with electrical lockouts for unknown reasons, flickering light, the burning marks on or above the sockets and switches.

Caution should be taken not only about fire, but gas as well. Do not leave a burning gas stove unattended and turn off the tap overnight. To prevent the accu-mulation of gas, it is necessary to ventilate the kitchen often, but it is dangerous to create a draught, because it can extinguish aburning flame. If for one or an-other reason the stove goes out,

do not try to re-ignite it. Who knows how much gas has accu-mulated. Just turn off the tap and ventilate the kitchen. Gas stoves cannot be moved arbitrarily from one place to another, because the pipes carrying gas connections can be damaged. The gas stove can be moved to another location only by specialists. It is strictly prohibit-ed to do it oneself. If for any rea-son a lot of gas accumulated in a room, cover the nose and mouth with a damp cloth or handker-chief, quickly turn off the gas taps and open the windows wide. Do not turn on any electrical devices - door bell, lamps, etc., because it may strike a spark and cause an explosion. If a gas began to burn at a leak place, do not attempt to

deal with it. While the gas is burn ing, it will be not the explosion. In this case, it is necessary to close the gas valve and watch objects next to fire. Call the fire-brigade and gas emergency service. Emer-gency telephone number is 04.

In order to ensure maximum pro-tection of home, it is recommended to install a smoke detectors, which can detect both smoulderingand combustion. They detect even a small amount of smoke at room and ring the alarm of fire. It is also a must to have functioning fire ex-tinguishers and fire-resistant cloth at home. Be careful and memorize well a short number for emergen-cy 112, which can be called in or-der to reach emergency services.

Centre Plus News No.6, 2014

ACCIDENTS EXPERIENCES OF THIRD-COUNTRY NATIONALS In the event of an accident, it is necessary to react quickly and to seek help as soon as possible. In this article, the third- country na-tionals who are residing in Lithu-ania have shared their experiences on how they behaved in the case of emergency, where did they turn for help, what help they had expected and what actually got.

J. G. from Azerbaijan who got his diploma and currently is working in Lithuania was pleased that he had never occasion to call to the fire and rescue station: “I know that the general emergency num-ber is 112, so I believe that I will know, what to do in the case of an accident. But I am glad that there was not such the case.” The guy believes that English language for workers of such institutions is required. “In my opinion, the knowledge of English is one of the main requirements for employ-ment. Because, when an alien is calling and he is excited, it is very important to understand immedi-ately, what it is about and to fix an event”, - shared his opinion J. G.

I. R., who have arrived from Be-larus and is living in Lithuania for several years, shared that she had never sought help because of an accident during the time of living in our country. But the woman noticed that the work of emergen-cy services was very important and necessary: “I understand that people who try to rescue others must to be good-hearted persons and have a lot of courage in ex-treme situations. This is a very dangerous and selfless work.” Belarusian I. R. emphasized that

every immigrant had to learn the short emergency numbers of the country in which he was living and had to be ready. “I do not see any problems that foreigners and the employees of rescue sta-tion could not understand each other. I believe that the major-ity of Lithuanians speak Rus-sian while English is becoming used widely as well”, - said I. R.

The other Belarusian A. R., who is currently studying for Master`s de-gree, also shared the idea that she never sought help because of the accident, but knew all short num-bers by which such assistance could be available. “In Lithuania, by the way in my homeland as well, res-cue institutions provide assistance in the event of an accident, such as fire or a gas explosion. Although there are cases, when people turn to

rescue services, when their pets get stuck high and cannot dismount. Of course, such a situation cannot be likened to fire, but people still can apply. The girl believes that emer-gency services personnel have to speak English language, because the number of immigrants is grow-ing in Lithuania and English lan-guage is becoming imperative.

The superintendant of the VI team at Vilnius County Fire and Rescue Board said that she could not re-member the specific case, when they had to help an alien: “I do not remember such a case in my work. And if was so, then we re-ally understood situation because I cannot remember any particu-lar event. The superintendant said that the VI team is one of the most advanced in terms of per-sonnel. Woman shared that they

The newspaper is published, implementing the project “Consultation and information centre PLUS” according the European Fund for the

Integration of third-country nationals, annual Programme 2012

CENTRE PLUS · A.Smetonos street 5, room No 302 · VilniusTel.: 85 261 74 82 / 8 605 77 245

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Centre Plius News No.6, 2014actively pursued educational ac-tivities, seminars and excursions. Everyone who is interested can come and learn more about their activities. “The vast part of the team can speak foreign languages and this makes easier the process of rescue, so we can rescue not only countrymen, but also foreign na-tionals”, - said the superintendant.

The head of Vilnius Department of Emergency Response Cen-tre (ERC) L. Šinkūnas shared his work experience and said that they

received calls from people of dif-ferent nationalities. “The most cu-rious cases occur with the Chinese. When they call, they speak Eng-lish, but in fact their English ac-cent is difficult to understand and differs from ours. So sometimes it takes some time before person-nel figure out, what is the problem and where to send a rescue team”,- said L. Šinkūnas. The head of Vilnius Department was happy that all staff is fluent in Russian language and the greater part of it speaks English, so there were

no problems of understanding: “We also have a file in your office, where is written, what languag-es speak relief workers. So when we get a call and we know that the

other e mployee speaks the language, then the call is diverted to him.”

The described experiences con-firm that immigrants know, what to do in the case of emergency, but also they think that personnel who are answering help desk calls should speak English language.