Nghe An has nearly 5,000 facilities with fire and explosion hazards.

The monitoring delegation was 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 on National Defense and Security, Permanent Deputy Head of the Monitoring Delegation.

Fire and explosion situations sometimes still occur frequently.

Attending the working session on the morning of March 29, on the side of Nghe An province, there 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.

According to the report on the implementation of policies and laws on fire prevention and fighting in the period of 2014-2018 presented by the representative of Nghe An Provincial Police at the working session, in the past 4 years, the situation of fires and explosions in the province, although controlled, still occurred frequently.

Accordingly, the whole province had 347 fires, killing 7 people, injuring 11 people, causing property damage of about 64.1 billion VND; there were 8 explosions, killing 3 people, injuring 19 people.

Working session scene. Photo: Thu Giang

The value of damage caused by fires and explosions in urban areas, districts and towns with industrial parks and developed urban areas accounts for a high proportion. If indirect damage (stopped production, business, investment in restoration after fires and explosions, etc.) is included, the total damage will increase many times. Many incidents have left serious consequences for people, negatively impacted the environment, and affected the security and order situation in the area.

Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Provincial Police Department directly directed the fire fighting work at the scene. Photo: Archive

According to Deputy Director of the Provincial Police Ho Sy Tuan, the complicated fire and explosion situation is due to many reasons, of which the objective reason is that Nghe An is a province with a harsh climate, hot and dry weather for a long time; large area, large population, economic development, rapid urbanization, more and more high-rise buildings, commercial centers, industrial parks coming into operation...

“Regarding subjective causes, it is mainly due to people’s lack of awareness and knowledge about fire prevention and fighting. According to statistics, the number of fires and explosions caused by people’s subjective awareness (due to negligence, violation of fire safety regulations, arson, etc.) accounts for a high proportion of the total number of fires and explosions,” the representative of the provincial police leadership pointed out.

By the end of 2018, the whole province had more than 940,500 hectares of forest, more than 11,865 facilities under fire prevention and fighting management, including more than 4,990 facilities with fire and explosion hazards, 1 economic zone, 9 industrial parks with more than 162 factories, enterprises, 230 markets, 30 supermarkets, shopping centers, over 500 buildings with 5 floors or more, nearly 600 hotels...

There is still a situation where fire prevention and fighting is considered the responsibility of the police force.

In the period of 2014 - 2018, the People's Committee of Nghe An province advised the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Council to issue 1 resolution, 1 directive, 2 plans, 1 telegram, 3 notices and 2 official dispatches directing fire prevention and fighting and search and rescue work in the province. Provincial People's CommitteeIssued 1 directive, 5 plans, 7 telegrams and many directive documents, organized many conferences to disseminate and implement major directive documents of the Central and local governments on fire prevention and fighting and search and rescue work...

The province has established a Standing Unit to assist the Provincial Steering Committee for Fire Prevention and Rescue. At the same time, it has directed 21/21 People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to establish and strengthen the Steering Committee for Fire Prevention and Rescue. Every 6 months and 1 year, the Provincial Steering Committee and the District Steering Committees hold meetings to assess the situation, performance results and propose key tasks in the coming time.

In addition, the Provincial People's Committee also directed the Provincial Fire Prevention and Rescue Police force to sign 15 regulations, programs, and coordination plans in fire prevention and rescue work with provincial departments, agencies, and enterprises.

Regarding propaganda, dissemination and education of fire prevention and fighting laws, the province has directed sectors and localities to organize 1,532 propaganda and training sessions on fire prevention and fighting and search and rescue with 177,959 participants;Developed, edited and published 369 reports, 1,376 news and propaganda articles on fire prevention and fighting and search and rescue; organized 9,124 establishments at risk of fire and explosion in the province to sign a commitment to strictly implement fire prevention and fighting safety measures; guided 11,272 agencies, enterprises and key establishments to hang banners and propaganda slogans on National Fire Prevention and Fighting Day (October 4)...

Nghe An Newspaper presides over and coordinates with the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police force and relevant agencies to organize and maintain the program "People ask, authorities answer" related to fire prevention and fighting work. Photo: Archive

In general, the Provincial People's Committee has directed the serious and drastic implementation of fire prevention and fighting and rescue work, achieving many important results. However, there are still some shortcomings and limitations pointed out at the working session. Notably, although the work of propaganda, dissemination and education of fire prevention and fighting law has been directed and achieved certain results, in general, it has not met the requirements.

“Some heads of agencies, units, organizations, enterprises, and a part of the people have not clearly understood their responsibilities and obligations in fire prevention and fighting; have not seriously implemented the provisions of the law on fire prevention and fighting, lack the skills to escape or handle fire and explosion incidents from the beginning. In some places, fire prevention and fighting are still considered the responsibility of the Fire Prevention and Fighting Police force...”, said Colonel Ho Sy Tuan - Deputy Director of the Provincial Police.