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Total number of volunteer fire-fighters in RF exceeds 800,000 – Emergencies Minister

“All volunteer fire-fighters passed through appropriate training and they implement a wide range of fire-prevention tasks,” the minister said

MOSCOW, December 18 (Itar-Tass) —— The total number of volunteer fire-fighters has exceeded 800,000 people, Russian Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov told a news conference on Tuesday.

A year ago, former emergencies minister Sergei Shoigu put forth the task to create volunteer fire-fighting teams with numerical strength of 800,000 people in the country. In Shoigu’s opinion, this is the optimal number of volunteer fire-fighters for Russia.

While replying to Itar-Tass question, Puchkov stated, “Up to date, several dozens of thousands volunteer fire-fighting teams numbering about 860,000 people have already been created in Russia. They are equipped in full.”

This year, more than 6,500 units of special hardware were delivered to the volunteers.

“All volunteer fire-fighters passed through appropriate training and they implement a wide range of fire-prevention tasks,” the Russian emergencies minister said. “About ten percent of all fires in the country, specifically those occurred in remote territories, were extinguished by volunteers,” Puchkov said.

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