Analyzing and clarifying the causes of 211 fires and explosions in Nghe An in the past 6 months

On the morning of July 13, the Provincial People's Committee held a meeting to review the activities of the Steering Committee for Fire Prevention, Fire Fighting and Rescue in the first 6 months of 2019. Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Steering Committee chaired the meeting. Photo: Lam Tung.

6 months, investigating the cause of 24/31 fires

In the first 6 months of 2019, the fire situation in the area was complicated. Specifically, there were 31 fires in civilian areas, killing 1 person and causing damage of 6.71 billion VND; 71 forest fires and vegetation fires killed 1 person and burned hundreds of hectares of forest.

Accordingly, the main causes of fires are electrical short circuits (72%); violations of regulations when using heat sources and fire sources (19%), other causes (9%); Forest fires are mainly due to prolonged hot weather, strong southwest winds and dry, flammable vegetation.

The fire and explosion situation in the first 6 months of 2019 in the province was complicated, 72% of the fires were caused by electrical short circuits. Photo: Document

In the first 6 months of the year, members of the Steering Committee have paid attention to and coordinated well in fire prevention and rescue work, contributing to ensuring fire prevention and fighting safety, creating a favorable environment and conditions for economic, cultural and social development.

Specifically, fire prevention and fighting inspections were conducted at 2,545 establishments and vehicles, 301 administrative violation records were drawn up, 468.3 million VND was imposed, and the State budget was paid 468.3 million VND; the Provincial Police and relevant agencies examined the scene and investigated the cause of 24/31 fires (77.4%).

Mobilizing 3,026 officers and soldiers, over 10,000 people from various forces and the masses to participate in fire fighting, directly rescuing 21 people, with an estimated value of hundreds of billions of dong in saved assets.

Fire prevention and fighting work still has many limitations.

In addition to the achieved results, fire prevention and fighting work still has certain limitations. That is, the advice of the members of the Steering Committee is sometimes not timely and comprehensive; not closely following the assigned areas and fields; coordination and information exchange between sectors and members are still limited.

Colonel Nguyen Duc Hai - Deputy Director of the Provincial Police analyzed the shortcomings and limitations in fire prevention and fighting. Photo: Lam Tung

Besides, the propaganda and education work on popularizing knowledge about fire prevention and fighting is not diverse and not suitable for each subject, so the effectiveness is not high.

Inspection and examination work is sometimes not strict, not resolute, and is still formal, leading to the fact that after inspection, establishments still deliberately delay and do not implement.

The alarming reality today is the situation where facilities have converted their functions and usage from residential to accommodation, karaoke, etc., without meeting fire prevention and fighting requirements. The implementation of fire prevention and fighting regulations in high-rise apartment buildings, markets, and shopping malls is still sketchy, and the on-site fire prevention and fighting forces at these locations are concurrent and lack the skills to handle situations when there is a fire or explosion.

Fire prevention and fighting work in industrial zones has not received due attention, has not complied with regulations on on-site fire prevention and fighting forces; arranged fire fighting equipment... posing a high risk of fire and explosion.

Strictly handle organizations and individuals who violate fire prevention and fighting regulations.

Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Provincial Steering Committee for Fire Prevention and Rescue concluded the meeting. Photo: Lam Tung

The key task in the last 6 months of 2019 is that the Steering Committee continues to advise the Provincial Party Committee, Provincial People's Council, Provincial People's Committee to direct relevant departments, branches and People's Committees of districts and cities to focus on directing the good implementation of fire prevention and fighting and search and rescue work.

Focus on disseminating the roles and responsibilities of government leaders at all levels and leaders in fire prevention and fighting and search and rescue work; promptly commend good people and good deeds in fire prevention and fighting work and criticize organizations and individuals who violate fire prevention and fighting regulations.

Fighting forest fire in Nam Kim (Nam Dan). Photo: Document

Strengthen state management of fire prevention and fighting; Review, consolidate, build and maintain effective operations of civil defense and facility fire prevention and fighting teams according to the provisions of the Fire Prevention and Fighting Law, especially in key facilities and areas with high risk of fire according to the motto "4 on-site".

Concluding the meeting, comrade Le Hong Vinh acknowledged and highly appreciated the positive contributions of the members of the steering committee in fire prevention and rescue work. However, he noted that the members of the steering committee need to clearly identify the limitations and weaknesses in fire prevention and fighting work in order to promptly overcome them.

In particular, in forest fires, it is necessary to investigate and clarify the cause of the fire; objectively assess the human factor in this issue. At the same time, assign the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to study the issue of allocating funds to clear vegetation and protect planted forests to limit the risk of forest fires.

Tighten the upgrading, renovation and change of function for facilities converted from residential to commercial to have appropriate sanctions; the assessment and acceptance of fire prevention and fighting conditions must be stricter.

In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the problem of power overload, degraded power grid infrastructure causing fire and explosion; Review the infrastructure serving fire prevention and fighting; have specific regulations on fire prevention and fighting in industrial zones and focus on logistics in fire fighting.