The Czech environmental inspectorate (ČIŽP) and the country’s Fire and Rescue Service (HZS ČR) have launched a nationwide campaign to step up fire safety inspections at waste management facilities. Carried out in cooperation with the Czech Environment Ministry, the inspection campaign is part of efforts to improve prevention and preparedness and to reduce fire risks.
Czech firefighters had responded to more than 2,000 fires at landfills, waste storage and processing facilities over the past five years, the HZS said in late July when the inspections began. The director of the Czech environmental inspectorate Petr Bejček noted at the time that in recent fires, particularly in plastic processing facilities, operators were shown to have accepted more plastic than they could process leading to the accumulation of "enormous quantities" of waste stored outside designated areas. The Inspectorate intended therefore to focus primarily on controlling waste storage capacities, as well as waste handling and storage procedures....
