Russian Holidays - Day of Investigative Bodies of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia

Determining the cause of a fire or other emergency can be difficult. The investigator has a great responsibility - to find those responsible for violating safety standards, which led to the fire of a forest, residential building or industrial structure. Fire destroys almost all traces of the disaster, so determining its causes is considered the most difficult type of investigation. January 23 is the Day of Investigative Officers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia - a professional holiday rooted in the distant past. In 1928, the Circular of the NKVD and the People's Commissariat of Justice of the RSFSR was issued on granting fire supervision additional powers. According to the document, which came into force on January 23, GPN employees received the right to independently handle fire cases. This is how the specialty “fire investigator” appeared. An employee of the former State Fire Inspectorate, now the Ministry of Emergency Situations, together with experts from the laboratory, identifies the cause of the fire, finds the culprits and classifies the violation as administrative or gives it the status of a criminal offense. The interrogator, in addition to special skills and abilities, must have psychological endurance. Simultaneously with assessing the situation and collecting evidence, the medical officer is required to interrogate witnesses who do not always behave adequately due to the stress they have suffered. After all, a fire is often accompanied by harm to the physical and mental health of people. During a disaster, people and animals die and material assets are destroyed. Often a fire becomes a screen to hide traces of crimes - the destruction of accounting documents, stolen items and even corpses. All this requires great concentration and endurance from the interrogator. It’s not just fellow laboratory assistants who come to the aid of modern specialists. Professionals use the latest equipment, methods and techniques in their activities. Investigators go to the scene of an incident with a toolkit for work and portable fire-forensic laboratories. With their help, for example, the compliance of the level of impregnation of a building structure with safety standards is determined. Investigators evaluate the operation of fire prevention systems, conduct instrumental studies: draw conclusions about the temperature of the flame and its duration based on scale on steel surfaces, and find the source of the fire. Developed intuition, responsibility and observation are the main features of an EMERCOM investigator. His professional responsibilities include not only identifying those responsible for the combustion process getting out of control. Based on the conclusions made by the Ministry of Emergency Situations employees, preventive measures in the field of fire safety are being developed. They help prevent future man-made disasters. Professionals solve today's problems and make a great foundation for the future. Therefore, colleagues and relatives sincerely and from the bottom of their hearts congratulate them on January 23 on the Day of Investigative Officers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation.