The “Detector for Life” campaign continues in 2025, with the aim of protecting as many homes in Romania as possible from the risks of fires and carbon monoxide poisoning. The action is carried out through the “Together for Safety” partnership, initiated by the Department for Emergency Situations (D.S.U.) and the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (I.G.S.U.), together with E.ON Romania and Delgaz Grid.

Approximately 10,000 smoke and carbon monoxide detectors will be distributed free of charge, in the coming period, to families from 20 counties, as part of this year’s program.

These devices primarily have a warning role, immediately signalling the occurrence of a fire or a gas leak in the spaces where they are located and can thus make the difference between a minor incident and a tragedy. A fire discovered and announced in advance has a considerably higher chance of being located and extinguished faster, which can mean not only reducing material damage, but especially saving human lives.

In Romania, an average of 19 fires occurs daily, resulting in numerous material damage, victims and even loss of life, and these tragic incidents can be prevented and avoided by respecting minimum safety rules and measures, such as installing detectors.

The new detectors, donated by E.ON and Delgaz Grid, which will be installed free of charge this year as well, are in addition to the over 7,500 smoke detectors and 2,500 carbon monoxide detectors, installed last year in beneficiaries in 479 localities in 20 counties. Representatives of the county inspectorates for emergency situations will distribute them in the counties of: Arad, Bacău, Bihor, Bistrița-Năsăud, Botoșani, Brașov, Buzău, Cluj, Covasna, Iași, Mureș, Neamț, Prahova, Satu Mare, Sălaj, Sibiu, Suceava, Timiș, Vrancea and Vaslui.

“There are two very important institutions, E.ON and Delgaz Grid, without which we would not have this action, as well as I.G.S.U. through which the installation of these detectors will be coordinated at the national level. I can only thank E.ON for this action that effectively saves lives,” said Dr. Raed Arafat, State Secretary in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Head of D.S.U.

“I would like to thank E.ON Romania and Delgaz Grid for their constant support over the past 12 years – we have just started the 13th – for the way they understood that only together can we successfully complete these campaigns and only together can we be a real support for the citizens of this country”, said Dan-Paul Iamandi, Inspector General of I.G.S.U.

“The decision to continue this joint project is a natural one and came following the immediate and obvious results that we observed last year, shortly after we started distributing these detectors: many families narrowly avoided fires that could have been devastating. There are still many homes in Romania where such devices are not installed, perhaps due to a lack of information about their importance or for other reasons. Therefore, it is very important to continue our mission together with our partners at D.S.U. and I.G.S.U., to contribute to protecting people and saving lives”, says Volker Raffel, CEO E.ON Romania.

E.ON, Delgaz Grid, D.S.U. and I.G.S.U. have been running national consumer information and awareness campaigns for 13 years regarding the risks they are exposed to in the event of improper use of energy sources, whether we are talking about electricity or natural gas, and their messages have reached millions of Romanians annually.

Following the joint campaigns carried out within the “Together for Safety” partnership, but also the investments consistently carried out, year after year, by Delgaz Grid to modernize the distribution infrastructure, the frequency of incidents of this type has decreased significantly.

Thus, between 2013-2024, the number of explosions caused by the accumulation of natural gas in homes was halved compared to the period 2007-2012. At the same time, the number of deaths decreased by almost 43%, and the number of victims decreased by almost 33%.

Regarding the number of carbon monoxide poisonings, in the period 2013-2024, we have a decrease of over 60% compared to the period 2007-2012. At the same time, the number of victims affected by poisonings decreased by 67%, as did the number of deaths.

The main causes of explosions in the area of ​​activity of Delgaz Grid remain the incorrect handling of gas-powered appliances or improvisations on interior installations. In the case of poisonings, the main cause is carbon monoxide accumulated in rooms, mainly as a result of non-evacuation or insufficient evacuation of flue gases through leaky or clogged chimneys, but also the use of gas stoves for heating homes.