Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee: Do not allow debt on criteria and standards for fire and explosion prevention and control safety

On the morning of March 29, the National Assembly's Supervisory Delegation supervised the topic "Implementation of policies and laws on fire prevention and fighting in the period of 2014-2018" led by Senior Lieutenant General Vo Trong Viet - Member of the Party Central Committee, Member of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for National Defense and Security, Deputy Head of the Supervisory Delegation, had a working session with the People's Committee of Nghe An province.

Attending the working session on behalf of Nghe An province were comrades: Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Nguyen Huu Cau - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Director of the Provincial Police, representatives of provincial departments, branches and sectors.

Working session scene. Photo: Thu Giang

No debt related to fire and explosion safety criteria

Speaking at the working session with the National Assembly's supervision delegation, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Thai Thanh Quy informed the delegation about some contents on the current situation of fire prevention and rescue work in Nghe An in recent times.

Nghe An is the largest province in the country (16,500 km2), with a forest area of ​​approximately 950,000 hectares. This is an area with a harsh climate, prolonged heat, dryness, and a very high risk of fire, especially forest fires.

"Nghe An's urbanization speed is relatively fast, many high-rise buildings are being built, commercial centers are being formed, posing a very high risk of fire and explosion," he said.

During the period of 2014-2018, the Provincial People's Committee advised on the issuance of many directive documents, creating strong movements at the grassroots level, from assigning responsibilities to leaders, issuing annual plans, perfecting steering committees at all levels, and assigning responsibilities to steering committee members.

“During the hot and dry season, the members of the provincial steering committee must stick to the area, go down to the base to work, see how the preparation, fire and explosion prevention and especially forest fire prevention and control work is being carried out. At the district level, direct the signing of commitments from forest owners and establishments with high risk of fire and explosion, and commit to coordinate between neighboring units, not only in the province but also with Ha Tinh province to coordinate well when the situation occurs,” said the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.

Second, the province attaches great importance to propaganda work, raising people's awareness, promoting the mass movement of fire prevention and fighting associated with the mass movement of protecting national security.

Third, Nghe An pays great attention to state management work related to fire prevention and fighting, especially the appraisal and acceptance of fire prevention and fighting works related to fire and explosion prevention and fighting safety.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Thai Thanh Quy said that Nghe An does not allow debt related to fire and explosion prevention and control safety criteria. Photo: Thu Giang

"The province does not allow default on criteria and standards related to fire and explosion prevention and control to avoid unpredictable consequences," Comrade Thai Thanh Quy affirmed, giving the example of an apartment building in the city that was temporarily suspended from operation, pending the correction of violations related to fire prevention and control.

Fourth, direct the strengthening of inspection and examination work to detect problems. In the past 4 years, 7 provincial-level interdisciplinary teams and more than 60 district-level interdisciplinary teams have detected more than 3,000 violations.

Fifth, focus on building the fire prevention force, especially 2014-2018 is the period of forming the province's fire prevention force, supplementing a strong force of 600-700 officers and employees.

In addition to the central government's investment, the province also focuses on investing in facilities and equipment, regularly providing training to improve knowledge and skills for regular fire prevention and fighting forces, grassroots fire prevention and fighting forces, civil defense forces, militia and self-defense forces, etc.

On behalf of the provincial leaders, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee proposed to the National Assembly delegation to propose the Government and the Ministry of Public Security to provide the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Force of Nghe An Public Security with 1 ladder truck to serve firefighting and rescue work for buildings over 10 floors high and 1 firefighting boat on rivers and at sea...

Do not be subjective, be more determined in fire prevention

Senior Lieutenant General Vo Trong Viet - Member of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security, Head of the working delegation concluded the working session. Photo: Thu Giang

Concluding the working session, Senior Lieutenant General Vo Trong Viet - Deputy Head of the Standing Supervisory Delegation, Head of the working delegation acknowledged 7 contents that Nghe An had done well in the supervision period on the implementation of policies and laws on fire prevention and fighting.

Firstly, the province has many basic solutions in fire prevention and fighting work, clearly decentralizing responsibilities, creating fairly even changes at all levels, especially at the grassroots level, in fire prevention and fighting work.

Second, the province organizes leadership and directs the serious implementation of fire prevention and fighting work, thus minimizing, preventing, stopping and handling incidents quite well.

“In reality, with the Lao wind climate in Nghe An, the fact that the forest has been kept free of fires like in recent years is commendable. I also share the worries of the provincial leaders day and night, because with this climate, we don’t know when a fire will break out,” Senior Lieutenant General Vo Trong Viet said.

Third, according to the assessment of the working group, Nghe An has built good plans, organized effective fire prevention and fighting drills, and gradually taken the initiative in fire fighting in all fields and areas.

Fourth, the locality has many good models of propaganda and education, decentralization, assignment of responsibilities in fire prevention and fighting, clearly defining the responsibilities of leaders, making an important contribution to fire prevention and fighting work.

Fifth, the 4 on-site measures and coordination of forces are respected, with specific plans and strategies, creating trust and combined strength in case of fire or explosion.

Sixth, inspection, handling, drills and training are maintained regularly and are highly effective.

Seventh, the province pays attention to all aspects of the fire prevention and fighting force, gradually perfecting mechanisms and policies, and investing budget to equip and improve this force.

The National Assembly's supreme supervisory delegation conducted a field survey at the DKC Petroleum Depot. Photo: Thu Giang

However, the Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for National Defense and Security also noted a number of issues to the province. Accordingly, although Nghe An's agencies and sectors have been very determined in the past to regularly maintain fire prevention and fighting work, in the coming time, they cannot really be assured because the potential risk of fire and explosion is still very high, so the province cannot be subjective and must be more determined.

In addition, the sense of responsibility of a number of cadres, party members and people in fire prevention is still low, subjectivity and carelessness in fire prevention are still common, when a fire occurs, it is detected slowly, confused, passive, and large fires that are difficult to put out are still quite common...

“This is a common situation across the country. We went to monitor large areas and cities and saw the same thing. Nghe An is in this common situation, but if we are not careful, it will be very dangerous. Just a little carelessness or negligence will cause a fire,” he reminded.

Secondly, according to Senior Lieutenant General Vo Trong Viet, Nghe An's fire fighting equipment force is still lacking and not synchronized in the area, greatly affecting the quality and effectiveness of fire fighting, raising the issue of needing attention, investment, and review.

“Normal fires can be handled, but high-level fires are impossible and require investment. I believe that after the National Assembly's supreme supervision of fire prevention and fighting, the Government will certainly pay more attention to this issue,” said the head of the supervision delegation, while also requesting Nghe An to assess the current state of fire prevention and fighting work to see how it has responded; on the other hand, the investment policy mechanism must be calculated to focus, avoid spreading, and bring about the highest efficiency./.