SITUATION WITH THE FIRES ON THE EARTH AT THE BEGINNING OF THE XXI CENTURY

Thå information about the situation with the fires and their effects on the Earth at the beginning of the XXI century has been presented in the article. There was estimated the total number of fires on the Earth in 10–12 mln. a year and the number of fire deaths in the 100–120 thous. inh. a year. The trends of the number of fires and fire deaths from 2009 to 2013 in 40 countries of the world have been shown. The data on mortality in the world and its main causes according to the data of theWorld Health Organization (WHO) is given. The authors have estimated the number of “deaths from the fire, heat and hot substances” by data of WHO and the number of “fire deaths” by data of fire services in 35 countries. All the data for the 35 countries as a result varies by 33 %. The article provides estimates of percentages of gross domestic product (GDP) accounted for by several fire-related components of the “total cost of fire”, shows that it is about 1 %of the GDPof the country at the same time the cost of fire fighting in 3–5 times greater than the loss from fires.