GOVERNMENT DISCUSSES THIS YEAR'S FIRES

ZAGREB, Oct 2 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Thursday added to its list of measures for more efficient fire protection a regulation instructing all island towns and municipalities to draw up together fire protection programmes for every island, and establish and co-finance joint firefighting units. #L# This provision already exists in the law on fire protection, but the government decided at today's session that it should be introduced as a legal obligation. The chief commander of firefighting units, Mladen Jurin, who attended the session, requested speedier establishment of a state administration body for disaster management. According to government data, in this year's first eight months, 8,402 fires were reported in the country, which is a four percent drop compared to the average number of fires in the last five years. However, the number of fires in the coastal region was by 15.2 percent higher than in the last five years. Jurin said that one of the reasons for the increase was this year's drought, the worst in the last 50 years. Jurin said that Croatia was the third Mediterranean country according to areas consumed by fire. However, he added that in 1998 and 2000 the number of fires was higher than this year. He warned that municipalities and towns, particularly those on central and southern Dalmatian islands, were not implementing even minimal measures to improve fire protection. In 80 percent of the cases, fires were caused by negligence, which is why the government concluded that competent ministries should work more to raise the awareness of the importance of fire protection. The government was informed that some three percent of the fires were set intentionally. Jurin said that such fires had caused the most damage. Interior Minister Sime Lucin said that the police discovered all the people who had set major fires. (hina) rml