Secondary abstract: |
In the first part of the master's degree thesis, I focused on the history and organization of firefighters in Slovenia and United States of America, I presented fire prevention and the causes of fires. In the world, fires are becoming an increasing problem, as they can cause increasing property, material and human damage due to climate change, population aging, human negligence, carelessness, new technologies, various new materials and reduced investment in fire safety. Therefore, firefighting is a very important social sector, which is less valued in Slovenia than in the United States. History, organization and investment of money contribute enormously to the knowledge and skills of firefighters. Of course, we must not forget to improve the legislation in the field of fire safety, which includes both fire safety planning and firefighting itself. The organization of firefighters in Slovenia and the United States is different, it seems that American firefighters are better technically and organizationally trained. In addition, this profession is also more valued there. There have been many devastating fires in the history of both countries, claiming many lives and property.
In the second part of my master's degree thesis, I performed a statistical analysis of the number of fires and damage that occurred in Slovenia and the United States in the period from 1992 to 2018. In Slovenia, between 4,000 and 6,000 fires occur every year. In the United States, however, 1.3 million to 1.6 million fires have occurred in recent years. The most common fires are fires in buildings, in traffic, in nature, and in communal or other containers. In Slovenia, the number of fires has not changed drastically over the years, the number fluctuates all the time. In the United States, however, the number of fires in 1992 fell by about 25 percents. The number of people injured in fires in Slovenia has been rising slightly in recent years, while the number of fatalities in fires has remained fairly constant. In the United States, however, both of these numbers have been falling over the years. The only exception is 2001, when the attack on the World Trade Center took place. The property damage caused by fires in Slovenia in recent years is around 7 million euros, and in the United States this figure has been hovering around 15 billion dollars for more than 15 years. Again, the exception is 2001 due to the attack in New York, which caused more than 30 billion in monetary damage. |