Emergency centre records Lithuania’s busiest summer weekend

Lithuania’s Emergency Response Centre received 18,803 calls to the 112 number from Friday through Sunday, the highest weekend total since the start of summer, LRT reported. The figure was nearly 10 percent higher than the previous weekend, while the total call time reached 348 hours.

The centre said the period from July 31 to August 2 was the busiest of the summer so far. The previous record was set during the hottest weekend in June, when about 18,700 calls were received. Nearly 12,000 calls were recorded over the Midsummer holiday.

Activity was highest on Friday, with 6,473 calls, followed by Saturday with 6,269. On Friday, the territory served by the Klaipėda regional division recorded the higher number of calls. On Saturday, the workload was almost evenly split between the regions, with 3,132 calls in the Klaipėda division’s territory and 3,137 in the Vilnius division’s territory.

Over the weekend, 5,813 reports were forwarded to the police. The largest categories involved public-order violations, with 1,433 reports, and traffic safety, with 1,003.

Emergency medical services received 4,126 reports.

The sharpest increase was recorded in reports forwarded to fire and rescue services. The services received 369 reports, almost three times more than the 136 recorded the previous weekend. Of these, 113 involved fires and 229 involved rescue operations.

The centre said a storm that affected parts of Lithuania over the weekend was the main factor behind the increase. Most storm-related reports came from Vilnius and its district, including the Avižieniai, Zujūnai and Sužionys neighbourhoods, as well as Alytus County.

Environmental protection officials received 303 reports.