This year was characterized by a decrease in the number of fires and at the same time a significant increase in the number of technical interventions. The causes were floods in June and windstorms with torrential rains in late July and early August. Yet the intervention that was most etched in our memory was of a different nature.

On the morning of April 29th, a gas explosion in an apartment building occurred in the center of Prague in Divadelní Street. There were 43 injured and 200 people were evacuated by firefighters from nearby houses. All services of the Integrated Rescue System intervened in the case. The Mayor, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior attended the scene. The explosion caused extensive damage to glass panels in the surrounding streets. The cause of the explosion with great material damage was a violation of technical standards during the laying of cables and pipes in the 1970s.

The case proved once again the importance of synergy between all services of the Integrated Rescue System, with the Medical Rescue Service of the City of Prague playing a very important role in treating the injured and providing exemplary care for evacuated persons. A great deal of work was also done by the USAR team, whose foreign experience was used in searching the wreckage for any buried persons.