Nghe An: 12 motels must stop operating because they do not ensure fire safety

12 facilities must stop operations

Regarding the existing problems in fire prevention and fighting in the above mentioned facilities, they mainly include: There is no solution to prevent fire from spreading in the parking area and business area; there is no second escape staircase. In addition, there are violations related to traffic for fire fighting, water supply for fire fighting outside the house, fire safety distance...

Ms. NTD - owner of a 6-storey, 1-attic boarding house in Hung Dung ward, Vinh city said: "To ensure fire prevention and fighting safety, we have installed a fire alarm system and equipped fire extinguishers on all floors. However, due to limited space, we have not been able to arrange a second escape staircase nor have we implemented a solution to prevent the fire from spreading. In accordance with Directive No. 19/2024, we are currently actively working to complete and get approval, hoping to resume operations soon. Although we know that overcoming the above shortcomings is not simple, especially in terms of funding, we have determined that ensuring fire prevention and fighting conditions is not only a mandatory requirement but also an important factor to maintain long-term business operations, while protecting the safety of tenants."

Similarly, Ms. DTT - owner of a 5-storey boarding house in Trung Do ward, Vinh city said that to ensure fire prevention and fighting, the boarding house has been equipped with 2 iron stairs for emergency escape, installed a fire alarm system and equipped with fire extinguishers.

However, after the recent inspection by the authorities, especially after the Prime Minister's Directive No. 19/2024, my family was forced to temporarily suspend operations to complete fire prevention solutions in the parking area and business area. The suspension of operations caused us great losses, so the family is trying to fix the above problems as soon as possible to be able to operate again.

Tighten management and raise fire prevention awareness

In reality, the common point of rental houses and mini apartments is that most of them are small in area, built in tube-shaped style, adjacent to houses on both sides, located in residential areas, with narrow walkways. Most of them are only equipped with fire extinguishers, command boards and some rudimentary tools.

Because it is located in residential areas with narrow walkways, many places still have violations related to traffic for fire fighting, water supply for fire fighting outside the house, fire safety distance...

Mr. Nguyen Tat Thao - Vice Chairman of Trung Do Ward People's Committee (Vinh City) said: There are 36 high-rise buildings for rent in the ward. However, the problem is that the boarding houses are often built interspersed in residential areas, making many areas narrow, especially the walkways. This makes it difficult to carry out fire fighting when necessary, because the golden time to control a fire is within the first 5 minutes. In addition, the current fire hydrant system is only installed on major roads, while the branch roads, where many boarding houses are concentrated, have not been extended, creating a large gap in fire prevention and fighting work.

In addition, a common feature of rental houses and mini apartments is that to prevent theft, these houses have welded iron frames on the balconies and windows, making escape in case of fire difficult.

Digging deeper into the issue, we (PV) also found many shortcomings in the legal document system and management of rental housing. According to regulations, households and individuals can register to rent houses without establishing a business or cooperative. Therefore, many households, after building a house, applied for a Construction Permit, then completed the application for registration of a rental business.

For mini apartments, the Housing Law stipulates that apartments must ensure construction, fire prevention and fighting and planning standards. However, according to Appendix V, Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP, apartment buildings, collective houses, dormitories with 7 floors or more or with a volume of 5,000m³or more must have a Fire Prevention and Fighting License. However, some households take advantage of the "loopholes" in the regulations, only applying for a Family House Construction License or a License for a building lower than 7 floors, with a volume of less than 5,000m3³, and then rent out the property. This makes fire prevention and firefighting requirements simpler, requiring only approved regulations, signs, escape plans, and firefighting plans.

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In addition to the problem of legal documents on fire prevention and fighting and search and rescue not being highly stable, there are frequent changes and supplements, leading to many shortcomings in research, organization and implementation.

It is worth mentioning that the situation of lax management of construction activities, unlicensed, illegal construction occurs in many areas. The type of individual housing that people arbitrarily convert into multi-apartment houses, boarding houses with high population density, houses combined with production and business cause many difficulties for management work...

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Dinh Hanh - Deputy Head of the Fire Prevention, Fire Fighting and Rescue Police Department (PCCC and CNCH) of Nghe An Provincial Police

Therefore, based on the spirit of Directive No. 19 of the Prime Minister, after March 30, 2025, rental houses and mini apartments that have not completed solutions to ensure fire prevention and fighting safety according to regulations will be forced to stop operating. Nghe An Provincial Police have stepped up propaganda work; at the same time, established inspection teams to conduct inspections and evaluate the effectiveness of fire prevention and fighting safety inspections and search and rescue for rental houses and rental service businesses in the province. Thereby, promptly urging and rectifying effective implementation, closely following the assigned progress.

For 12 boarding houses that are currently addressing fire prevention and fighting shortcomings, we have instructed them to follow Official Dispatch No. 7293/UBND-CN dated August 26, 2024 of the People's Committee of Nghe An province on guiding a number of urgent solutions to strengthen fire prevention and fighting safety conditions for multi-storey houses, multi-apartment houses, individual houses combined with production and business (including houses for rent) in the province.

However, in addition to the drastic intervention of the authorities to tighten the management of the State, especially in granting construction and operation permits for rental houses, mini apartments... Each citizen also needs to proactively equip themselves with knowledge and escape skills, such as using fire extinguishers, gas masks, rope ladders, iron ladders from balconies... This not only helps protect lives in emergency situations, but also contributes to improving the overall safety of the community.