{"id":174235,"date":"2026-02-04T14:47:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/174235\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"official-nearly-37-percent-of-january-fire-victims-were-drunk","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/174235\/","title":{"rendered":"Official: nearly 37 percent of January fire victims were drunk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>February 4, <\/strong><em><strong>Pozirk.<\/strong> <\/em>Belarusian rescuers responded to 967 fires last month,  90 percent more compared to January 2025, with the number of victims rising to 124, up 87 percent year on year, Vasil Si\u016d\u010dak of the emergency situations ministry has told journalists in Minsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most fatal fires were caused by careless handling of fire and smoking in sleeping areas, usually under the influence of alcohol, he said, noting that 45 of the victims, or 36.6 percent, were drunk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The official also linked the rise in winter fires to frequent violations of wood-burning stove operation rules, noting that stove overheating often causes cracks in the brickwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the start of 2026, the death toll from fires in Belarus has reached 141, according to&nbsp;<em>Pozirk<\/em>\u2019s analysis of official data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"insert-block\">\n\n    <div class=\"insert-block__img\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"354\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/led-zima-POZ-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/led-zima-POZ-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/led-zima-POZ-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/led-zima-POZ-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/led-zima-POZ-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/led-zima-POZ.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Society<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">Society<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">Belarus records lowest temperatures in eight years<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">February 2, Pozirk. Air temperatures in Belarus dropped to below 30 degrees Celsius for the first time in eight years, falling to minus 31.1C in the Luniniec district and -30.2C in \u017dytkavi\u010dy on the night between February 1 and 2, &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/173971\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read the article<\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>February 4, Pozirk. Belarusian rescuers responded to 967 fires last month, 90 percent more compared to January 2025, with the number of victims rising to 124, up 87 percent year on year, Vasil Si\u016d\u010dak of the emergency situations ministry has told journalists in Minsk. Most fatal fires were caused by careless handling of fire and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":112168,"template":"","rubric":[15],"class_list":["post-174235","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-society"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Official: nearly 37 percent of January fire victims were drunk | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"February 4, Pozirk. Belarusian rescuers responded to 967 fires last month, 90 percent more compared to January 2025, with the number of victims rising to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/174235\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Official: nearly 37 percent of January fire victims were drunk | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"February 4, Pozirk. Belarusian rescuers responded to 967 fires last month, 90 percent more compared to January 2025, with the number of victims rising to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/174235\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-10T12:05:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pozhar_mchs.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/174235\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/174235\/\"},\"headline\":\"Official: nearly 37 percent of January fire victims were drunk\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-04T11:47:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-10T12:05:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/174235\/\"},\"wordCount\":129,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/174235\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pozhar_mchs.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/174235\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/174235\/\",\"name\":\"Official: nearly 37 percent of January fire victims were drunk | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/174235\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/174235\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pozhar_mchs.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-04T11:47:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-10T12:05:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"February 4, Pozirk. 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