Penza, 15 November 2017. PenzaNews. 75 people including four children died as a result of fires that occurred in the Penza region in the 10 months of 2017. This was reported by Eduard Kustov, deputy head of the department for supervisory activities and preventive work under the main EMERCOM department of the region.

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According to him, the number of deaths decreased by 12% compared to an analogous period of the previous year.

Eduard Kustov specified that from January to October the department registered 856 fires, which is 5% less than a year before.

"The direct material damage amounted to over 9 million roubles, whereas last year it was 11,191,000 roubles," he said at the meeting with heads of city districts' administrations and municipal areas, which was held in the government of the Penza region via videoconferencing on Wednesday, November 15.

The deputy head of the department noted that the main areas where fires had occurred remained residential housing and outhouses of citizens.

"In the 10 months of the current year, a total of 639 fires occurred in the residential sector, which makes up 75% of the total number," Eduard Kustov added specifying that as a result of the incidents 71 people had died, 30 people had received injures of different degrees of severity.

According to him, 143 fires, or 22% of the total number, occurred due to violations of the rules of installation and use of furnaces, which resulted in nine cases of death.