To avoid the itch to burn old grass in spring, clean up your territory in autumn

First days of spring come, the puddles dry out a little, which brings rapid increase of number of fires caused by burning old grass – both birds and animals die, household and residential buildings suffer damage, and frequently human lives are endangered. In the beginning of April this year one person died, he was trying to extinguish the fire caused by burning old grass, while the firefighter was injured.

“There are still many people to ignore the prohibition to burn last year’s grass, and, misfortunately, it can sometimes be quite nasty and even cause a tragedy not only for the fire setters themselves, but also for the people, unfortunate enough to be the neighbours of the wrongdoers”, BTA Baltic Risks Underwriting Department director Ivo Danče encourages to withhold from burning old grass.

Over 1000 old grass burning fires have already been extinguished this year, wherein countless hectares of Latvian land burned down, which shows that many residents ignored the prohibition to burn old grass again. While State Forest Service registered 128 forest fires with land burned down amounting to 66.47 hectares.

To protect human lives and health, as well as to nature, I. Danče encourages field and land owners to take care of their territories in autumn already, so that last year’s grass does not cover the territories in spring. In case one fails to do so, one should avoid burning the old grass.

Reporting and particular caution in densely populated areas is encouraged

Old grass burning fires tend to occur in uncleaned territories, so State Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and insurers encourage residents to take care of cleaning the territories owned by them in timely and proper manner.

Likewise, authorities in charge encourage the residents to engage themselves in active exchange of information and to report burning last year’s grass, activities of queer-looking men, young people venues and similar situations, which might help to avert the fire accident before-the-fact.

Even though as compared to rural areas, cities are prone to having much smaller areas of land burning out, fires are especially dangerous, because the housing system is dense, and fires caused by old grass burning endanger residential buildings, household structures, historical monuments and other city objects, reminds Riga Municipality Portal www.riga.lv.

What are old grass fire setters going to face?

Cabinet of Ministers regulations “Fire safety regulations” envisage that owners should systematically clean the territory owned from any flammable waste, ten meter wide zone around the buildings should be cleared of dry grass and the unharvested crops, and land owners should do their best to avoid burning old grass in the territory owned.

In case of fire safety requirement violation, a fine shall be imposed from 30 till 280 euros for natural persons, and from 280 till 1400 for legal entities.

In case failure to comply with fire safety requirements, State Fire and Rescue Service within a fixed timeframe shall impose a fine from 140 till 430 euros for natural persons, and from 1400 till 4300 for legal entities.

Article 51 Failure to comply with mandatory land protection measures of Administrative Offence Code of the Republic of Latvia envisages – failure to comply with land maintenance measures and unmown grass, to avoid formation of old grass, a fine shall be imposed from 140 till 700 euros for natural persons, and from 700 till 2900 for legal entities.

BTA encourages residents to devote time to maintenance of environment, and not destruction thereof upon burning old grass. We encourage parents to keep an eye on their offspring and discuss safety issues with teenagers as well as damage caused by old grass burning fires to environment and nature.

Number of old grass burning fires, burn out areas and activity thereof depends on whether conditions of the respective year, and on attitude and consciousness of people.  In case of a damp and warm spring, the new grass grows fast and thus, the timeframe of old grass burning fires is short. While, in case of lengthy periods without rain, last year’s grass becomes even drier, and the number of old grass burning fires and areas increase.

BTA data testifies that residents most frequently link the reasons of old grass burning fires last year with careless treatment of fire – fires left unattended, burning cigarette butts thrown out, and consider burning old grass the most cost-efficient way of territory maintenance, even though burning old grass endangers human life and health, as well as real estate and causes damage to environment.

While SFRS experience shows that every spring there are residents trying to take care of their uncleaned territories. In 2018, there were 2088 old grass burning fires registered in the country, wherein six persons were injured, as well as 29 buildings were destroyed. Resulting from burning old grass last year 2018 hectares of territory of Latvia burned out, which makes it 18% more than in 2017, when 1648 hectares of territory of Latvia burned out.

What should you do if you observe burning old grass?

In situation when residents notice burning old grass, they should immediately call SFRS via the unified emergency telephone number 112 and name the exact location address or describe the location where the fire broke out as accurate as possible, as well as to say your name, surname and phone number and answer the questions by the dispatcher.

If a resident cares to start extinguishing old grass burning fire before the arrival of the fire-fighting team, then the resident should firstly evaluate the situation and make sure that fire extinguishing will not endanger the resident’s health and life.

One may extinguish burning old grass with water, sand or using branches of trees, for instance, fir-tree branches.

About BTA

BTA Baltic Insurance Company is one of the leading insurance companies in the Baltics, offering the broadest range of non-life insurance services in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. BTA employs more than 1,000 employees in the Baltics. The largest shareholder of BTA is Vienna Insurance Group AG with close to 200 years of experience in the insurance business. With about 50 companies in 25 countries and more than 25,000 employees, Vienna Insurance Group is the clear market leader in its CEE markets. Vienna Insurance Group is the best-rated company of ATX, the leading index of Vienna Stock Exchange with a rating of A+ with stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s; its share is also listed on the Prague Stock Exchange.

Additional information:

Elīna Rasmane

Marketing and Public Relations Department Director

BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS