Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr E. Huseynli / Some 1,035 fires were registered in Azerbaijan in the first quarter of 2007. As a result of these fires, twenty-six people died, the Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations, Etibar Marzayev, reported on 8 June.
In 2006, a total of 2,818 fires occurred in Azerbaijan. As a result, nineteen people died. Mirzayev said that fifty-three fire-fighting KAMAZ vehicles and other equipment from the French Jamila company (eighty-eight) and German Zigler company (eighty-four) will be imported this year.
Mirzayev noted that the Ministry of Emergency Situations had taken more than 30,000 fire prevention measures. Directors and employees of fire fighting departments in several Azerbaijani regions were removed from office as a result of inefficiency.