The construction of a Disaster Management Center in Daugavpils is scheduled for completion in spring 2025. The center is being funded by the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility, with an investment of €3.63 million. The foundation, external networks, and underground networks have already been completed. Road construction is underway, and work has begun on the construction of the building's walls.
The Disaster Management Center will house a State Fire and Rescue Service station, a branch of the Ministry of the Interior Health and Sports Center, and a branch of the Ministry of Interior Information Center. In the Latgale region, two similar centers are planned to be built in the coming years in Viļāni and Līvāni, also with funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The Viļāni center will house a State Police station, a State Fire and Rescue Service station, and an Emergency Medical Service station, while the Līvāni center will house a police and fire station, as well as a branch of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs.
Minister of the Interior Rihards Kozlovskis: "The creation of Disaster Management Centers is part of a set of significant measures to strengthen security in Latgale, all of Latvia, and the European Union. We can feel increasingly safe in Latvia, as we feel both the financial support of the European Union and a deepened interest in following the situation in Latgale. This is certainly also confirmed by the recent visit of the European Commission and the Ministry of Interior to Daugavpils in May of this year to see firsthand the situation in Latgale - the security investments that have been made and are still planned. We plan to continue our successful cooperation with our European Union partners."
Promoting Preventive Awareness of Safety
To promote preventive awareness of safety, on May 29, 2024, as the summer holidays for schoolchildren began, first- and fifth-graders at Daugavpils Centra Secondary School participated in an informative event on safety and the profession of firefighter-rescuer. With the participation of representatives of the State Fire and Rescue Service and the service's mascot, Lūsis, first-graders learned about safety rules near water, in nature, and at home, and how to act in dangerous situations when they need to seek help. Meanwhile, fifth-graders learned about the profession of firefighter-rescuer and the directions of the service's work. The children also had the opportunity to see the service's tanker in the schoolyard.
Fire Situation in Latgale in 2024
In the first five months of this year, 371 fires have been registered in Latgale. Of these, 109 calls were for fires in residential buildings, 40 in other non-residential or agricultural buildings, 27 involved burning vehicles, and 129 calls were received for stubble burning. Meanwhile, firefighters-rescuers responded to 354 rescue calls. Five people have died in fires in Latgale this year. The State Fire and Rescue Service has also received nearly 150 hoax calls. In comparison, last year firefighters responded to 278 fire calls in Latgale by mid-May, and the total number of fires registered throughout the year reached 1,006 calls. The highest number of fires in 2023 was registered in Daugavpils itself - 393 cases.
Nine Disaster Management Centers to Be Built in Latvia with funding from the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility
With funding from the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility, a total of nine disaster management centers are planned to be built in Latvia over the next two years - not only in Daugavpils, Viļāni, and Līvāni, but also in Liepāja, Salacgrīva, Alsunga, Madona, Talsi, and Alūksne.
