GOVT: IN FIRST SIX MONTHS 8.7% MORE FIRES THAN LAST YEAR

ZAGREB, July 24 (Hina) - During its session on Thursday, the government received data on fires that broke out in this year's first six months. In the said period, 5,925 fires broke out of which 4,000 took place in the open. #L# Fifteen persons were killed and 42 were injured in the fires. The total number of fires in this year's first six months increased by 8.7 percent in relation to the same period the year before, but there was 10.6 percent less damage. Speaking about the fires that broke out in the first 20 days of July, Interior Minister Sime Lucin said a large number of those fires were planted. He added that two perpetrators had been arrested and remanded in custody. The government was told that 359 fires were registered along the Adriatic coast in the period between July 1 and 20. The causes of 186 fires had not been officially established, but 80 percent of all fires (131) were the result of negligent behaviour on the part of local residents. Seven fires have been planted. Minister Lucin and fire marshal Mladen Jurin said it was obvious that some fires were caused intentionally, because they broke out in a short period of time at different locations and in the time of the day when it was least expected. Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic is particularly concerned with the fact that fires have been planted. She said that planting fires was a form of terrorism. The interior minister disagrees because in 90 percent of the cases, fires are planted by mentally ill persons. Lucin gave an example of a man who planted a fire and later said he did it because he likes to watch canadair aircraft. Another persons, says Lucin, planted a fire due to problems of sexual nature. Fire marshal Jurin stressed that 80 percent of the fires were the result of negligent behaviour on the part of local residents. "The public awareness of fire threat along the coast is obviously very low," he said. (hina) it