Fire Service Day in Kazakhstan Date in the current year: April 17, 2024

The Fire Service Committee of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan is tasked with ensuring fire safety. Its main tasks are the development and implementation of the state policy regarding fire safety, the organization of fire prevention and extinguishing, and the implementation of state control in the field of fire safety.

The work of the State Fire Service of Kazakhstan is regulated by the Law on Fire Safety that was signed by President Nursultan Nazarbayev on November 22, 1996. The law regulates legal relations between state bodies, legal entities and individuals in the field of ensuring fire safety in Kazakhstan. Ensuring fire safety is an integral part of state activities to protect the life and health of people, property, national wealth, and the environment.

One of the biggest challenges to date that the State Fire Service of Kazakhstan have had to face was the Transport Tower fire that occurred on March 30, 2006. The fire broke out on the 30th floor of a 34-story government building in the capital city of Nur-Sultan (then Astana) and spread up and down the stairwell, leading to the evacuation of more than 2000 people. It took 148 firefighters to extinguish the fire, and eight of them were injured in the process.

In addition to the state fire service, Kazakhstan has volunteer fire brigades formed by different organizations and enterprises. They are tasked with carrying out regular fire safety checks, educating employees about fire safety, making sure that fire-extinguishing equipment is operational, contacting the State Fire Service in the event of a fire and containing it until the arrival of professional firefighters.

Interestingly, although Fire Service Day used to be celebrated on April 17 throughout the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan is the only former Soviet republic to retain the tradition. Fire Service Day in Russia is celebrated on April 30, Kyrgyzstan observes its Fire Service Day on June 15, and Belarusian firefighters accept congratulations on June 15. Some ex-Soviet states don’t have a special holiday set aside for firefighters and celebrate all emergency services on the same day. They include, for example, Ukraine (September 17) and Azerbaijan (December 16).