Far too many tragedies during the festive season

The fireworks at the turn of the year led to more than 3,600 call-outs to the emergency services.Most of them had to treat injuries to the hands and face, especially eye injuries. The fireworks proved fatal for a 30-year-old man in Hajdú-Bihar County, the paramedics were unable to save the man with severe head injuries, who died at the scene. Due to excessive alcohol consumption, 215 citizens were hospitalised, including 29 minors.

The police initiated proceedings against 21 people for violating the regulations on handling pyrotechnics. The fire brigade had to attend 86 fires and 76 technical rescues. Half of the fires were caused by the improper use of pyrotechnics. One man died in a house fire in Gelse in Zala County, and a total of eleven people had to be evacuated from three other burnt-out flats across the country.

Christmas brought a total of 630 call-outs for the fire brigade, an elderly woman died in a flat fire in Püspökladány and a three-month-old baby died of carbon monoxide poisoning in Budapest. Twelve residential buildings became uninhabitable, which is why almost three dozen people had to be temporarily housed elsewhere.

Most of the firefighting operations on Christmas Eve were, of course, due to stormy winds that toppled trees. This damaged overhead power lines, cars and 19 buildings. Over the festive period, 2,000 firefighters were on standby across the country, with 500 fire engines travelling to their next location within two minutes.

Paramedics registered more than 10,650 call-outs over the three days of Christmas, a third of which were in Budapest and the surrounding area. In addition to road accidents and fires, a striking number of cases of carbon monoxide poisoning had to be treated.Almost 22,000 people received medical care, 40% of whom were children.