A fire at a nursing home in southern Russia last month which killed 62 people adds to the recent toll from such fires.
The fire was reported at 1.00 am on Tuesday 20 March but it took firefighters around an hour to reach the isolated nursing home in the village of Kamyshevatskaya. The local volunteer fire station had been closed last year. Reports of factors contributing to the high number of casualties include a partly installed or faulty fire alarm system, delays in responding to the alarm, a lack of staff when the fire broke out, and locked emergency exits. Around 35 other people were injured.
The fire in Kamyshevatskaya happened two weeks after another care home blaze which killed 26 people, this time at a Latvian retirement home in the town of Alsunga. The fire, which was reported at around 1.30am, was described as one of the deadliest in the country’s history. According to reports in the Baltic Times, the fire started in the attic floor and spread downwards to the second floor. Some 66 people were either evacuated or rescued by firefighters.
