Havana, June 17 (RHC) -– Firefighters from 13 countries of the world are meeting in Havana for the 5th International Conference of Firefighters, underway until Friday, June 20th and running parallel to the 9th International Congress on Disasters.

Many of the participants come from Latin American countries, such as Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay and Mexico.

The chief of the Cuban Firefighters Department, Colonel Luis Carlos Guzman is scheduled to address the conference on the island’s security system against fires, which are considered a strong-impact accident in Cuban society.

In 2013 alone, some 10,275 fires occurred in Cuba, with 17 percent of them in homes and resulting in over 20 million dollars in losses. The causes of these accidents were found in inappropriate use of domestic appliances such as cookers and electric equipment, as well as the misuse of fuels to cook in rural areas.

Security measures against fires, artificial intelligence techniques, statistic control and protection systems as well as the operative situation and danger are part of the topics on the conference’s agenda.