Feliks Tsolakyan: In many countries, fireman is in top 5 of the most  prestigious professions. We have not grown to this yet

ArmInfo. Bonus payments to employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations helped, but we raise the issue of salary increases. This was stated by the Minister  of Emergency Situations of Armenia Feliks Tsolakyan on April 19 at a  meeting with journalists. As the minister pointed out, the  Emergencies Ministry today is a fully established structure.

According to Tsolakyan, in 2019, the Armenian government went on an  increase in the bonus fund, which allowed the Ministry of Emergency  Situations to issue bonuses to employees of the Ministry of Emergency  Situations 4 times a year in the amount of wages. At the same time,  at this stage, the ministry is preparing a draft decision of the  government, which is aimed at increasing the salaries of ordinary  employees of the Emergencies Ministry. "A lifeguard risks his life on  a daily basis, both into fire and into water, but receives a meager  fee for it," he said. Thus, the average salary of the rank and file  in the MES is 115 thousand drams, while the officer's salary is 230  thousand drams. According to the head of the Ministry of Emergency  Situations, even if an official of a department works in shifts, one  must remember that he works around the clock. "In many countries, the  profession of a fireman is in the top 5  most prestigious. We have  not yet grown to this," he said.

At the same time, according to Tsolakyan, over the last 6 months, the  Ministry of Emergency Situations received 1 million phone calls. This  indicator, as the minister pointed out, indicates the extreme  workload of the Emergency Ministry Crisis Center. At the same time,  not all calls are "urgent" in nature: only 18-20 thousand of them  signal any incident requiring prompt intervention by the employees,  the rest were interested in the weather and the situation on the  roads.

During the reporting period, as noted by Tsolakyan, 2,300 cases of  fire were recorded, the largest in the Vahagnadzor forest. There were  29 cases of rockfalls, 13 cases of violation of the utility system, 2  - landslide.

During the blizzard season, temporary support posts of the Ministry  of Emergency Situations were deployed in the republic to provide  prompt and efficient assistance. In the mobile strongholds rescuers  are on duty, who provide urgent assistance to citizens stranded on  the roads. 24-hour strong points operate on the Sisian Zanger  highway, on the Karvachar road, on the Sotk Karvachar section, in the  area of the Selim Pass.  "The Ministry of Emergency Situations  finally managed to completely resolve the issue with the rescuer  uniform. We also solved the problems with the provision of the  department with fuel", said the head of the Ministry of Emergency  Situations.  Nevertheless, as pointed out by Feliks Tsolakyan, the  ministry still faces numerous problems, and, above all, associated  with the modernization of the existing fleet. At the beginning of the  year, according to the minister, within the framework of the  assistance of government of Japan, the Emergencies Ministry was  provided with 10 all-terrain vehicles fully equipped with the latest  technology, 18 fire engines are expected to arrive under the Japanese  assistance program, 22 more are expected in August of this year. 26  fire engines will be received from the Russian-Armenian Humanitarian  Center. "This will allow replacing the completely outdated fleet of  the Emergencies Ministry," said Tsolakyan.  Feliks Tsolakyan is  convinced that the Ministry of Emergency Situations today is a  structure. "Thanks to the daily hard work, we have reached such a  level of professionalism that we can lend a helping hand to our  neighbors. Most recently, Armenian rescuers provided humanitarian  assistance to Iranians affected by floods. At the same time,  Tsolakyan noted, the task of revising of their priorities. "Today,  the rescue service mainly focuses its efforts on eliminating the  consequences, but it is necessary to focus on prevention," he said.  Within this policy, in particular, intends to develop the skills of  civil defense of the population. For example, the Ministry of  Education and Science of Armenia has agreed to the introduction of  discipline in the school teaching program of "civil defense".To  recall, by the state budget for 2019, the Ministry of Emergency  Situations of Armenia  was allocated 10,017.5 million drams, instead  of 9,711.3 million drams in 2018.