Fire at Navy's warehouses was caused by violation of safety rules

18.08.2010 Elementary fire safety regulations were not obeyed at Navy's aviation storage base recently burned off in Moscow region - dried grass was up to waist, and fireguard line was not ploughed, Gen. Col. Dmitry Bulgakov, Deputy Minister of Defense said at the press conference.

The fire occurred on July 29 at naval aviation storage base near Kolomna, Moscow region destroyed headquarters, payroll department, club, 2 automobile pits, 13 depots with various aircraft equipment, and 17 outdoor storage platforms with automobiles, says the Investigative Committee. Because of the incident, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev fired a number of high-ranking naval officers and addressed a service incompetence note to Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky.

"One of the fire's reasons is that responsible persons had not fulfilled requirements of fire prevention guidelines. Dried grass was up to waist there, not talking of required 50-meter width fireguard line. If that had been done, the fire would not damaged the base", said Bulgakov.

Assessing the work of the base commander, the deputy minister said that "he was in inadequate and reactive state", so "I myself had to lead the firefighting operations".

"I arrived to the base at 9 pm (July 29). Thank to actions taken, the fire was brought under control by 3 am, and at 6 am only hot spots remained", said the officer.

Bulgakov refused to evaluate amount of damage caused by the fire.

"Two commissions presently finish their inquiries; one finds the fire causes, another determines actual damage", he said.

According to him, "various aircraft spare parts" were stored at the base. "Once the commissions finish their work, we'll have results", he said having added that the greater part of automobiles was salvaged.