Oxygen masks, rope ladders... in high demand after apartment fire
Smoke masks and fire escape ladders are items that people living in apartments urgently bought after the fire in Saigon.
One day after the horrific fire at Carina Plaza apartment building (District 8, Ho Chi Minh City) that killed 13 people and injured dozens, many residents living in other high-rise apartment buildings are still in shock.
Ms. Tam, who lives in an apartment building on Pham Van Dong Street (Binh Thanh District), said she was so worried that she had to buy an oxygen mask. “I never knew what an oxygen mask was before, but when I heard about the fire and was recommended by others, I decided to spend more than 4 million VND to buy one for my family of four to protect themselves,” Ms. Tam said.
Although still quite unfamiliar, Ms. Hong, living in an apartment building on Tran Hung Dao Street (District 5) said she had spent several million VND to buy oxygen masks for her family, and also bought a rope ladder because her family lives on the 3rd floor.“My apartment is quite old, I am afraid that if an accident happens it will be difficult to escape, so I have to prepare products and find solutions to avoid it,” said Ms. Hong.
A survey in Ho Chi Minh City shows that the number of people buying oxygen masks, rope ladders, and gas masks tends to increase.Mr. Hoa, owner of a fire protection equipment store on Nguyen Trai Street (District 1), said that in recent days, the number of small and retail customers coming to buy oxygen masks has increased compared to previous months.
“In the past, we could only sell a few to individual customers a week, but now we can sell 2-3 a day. Nowadays, we mainly sell to construction sites and businesses,” said Mr. Hoa, adding that this type has many different prices. The lowest is 150,000 VND and the highest is up to more than ten million VND. With the tens of millions VND type, most products come with an oxygen tank.
Also saying that the market is bustling again, Mr. Hoanh, the owner of a shop on Luong The Vinh Street (Tan Phu) said that in recent days, the amount of goods sold has increased by 30%, mostly from individual customers. "Previously, I mainly imported high-quality masks that cost millions of VND but only sold to companies. In recent days, individual customers have asked a lot, so I decided to import more types that cost a few hundred thousand VND," the shop owner shared.
Not only did the number of people asking to buy increase in stores, but many accounts on social networks also advertised for sale after the above incident.
“A set of gas masks, anti-toxic, anti-smoke for 550,000 VND. Buy it for self-protection,” a Facebook account advertised. This account also took the opportunity to provide a link to the number of people who died. Another account said that they sold many oxygen masks and had to import more because the number of customers ordering online increased rapidly.
In Hanoi, the demand for fire prevention equipment is also increasing rapidly.Believing that "it is better to save yourself than to wait for rescue", after the fire at Carina Plaza, Ms. Nhan - living in an apartment building in Linh Dam immediately called on households living in the building to buy smoke masks together.
"My husband always told me to buy some smoke masks to keep in the house in case of an emergency, but I kept putting them off. But after yesterday's fire in Saigon, I can't be lazy anymore," said Ms. Nhan, adding that she is calling on everyone in the same apartment complex to buy household fire protection equipment together to get a good price. Just a few hours after posting the information on the resident group, she received nearly a hundred orders.
In the same mood, Ms. Nguyen Loan (Van Phu Urban Area, Ha Dong, Hanoi) also hurriedly bought 4 Korean gas masks for 420,000 VND each for her family and "called" her neighbors to buy together.
"My house is on the 20th floor, if there is a fire, the fire escape will have a hard time getting there, so it's best to be prepared," Loan said. In addition to the smoke mask, she also bought a few dozen meters of escape rope in case she needs it.
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Smoke masks are one of the fire-fighting items sought after by residents of apartment buildings after the fire at Carina Plaza (Saigon) a day ago. |
Ms. Loan, the owner of a Facebook account with a store in Hanoi, said that after the serious fire in Ho Chi Minh City, friends on her page automatically asked to buy and placed large orders. "There were days when I received up to several dozen orders. Recently, I continued to order a shipment of products from Hong Kong and Korea," Ms. Loan said.
On streets specializing in selling labor protection equipment in Hanoi such as Yet Kieu, Nguyen Du... household fire fighting equipment such as mini fire extinguishers; smoke masks, gas masks or ladders and escape ropes are selling very well.
Each Chinese activated carbon filter anti-smoke and fire mask costs between 120,000 and 220,000 VND depending on the type with one or two cores; the higher quality type from Korea costs 420,000 VND each, and the Russian product costs around 300,000 - 350,000 VND...
The price is not cheap, 4-7 million VND depending on length but tCaves and escape ropes are also sought after by many people.This type of ladder is made from fireproof steel core cable running through a brake rivet to help people from high floors slowly descend to the ground. For apartments from the 20th floor and above, the ladder will be more expensive, from 9 to 11 million VND (additional cost per meter of rope is 50,000 VND).
Ms. Huong, owner of a labor protection and firefighting equipment store on Yet Kieu Street (Hanoi), said that before, most of the customers were workers and welders buying labor protection equipment, but since yesterday, after the apartment fire in Saigon, many people have asked to buy fireproof masks, some people bought dozens at a time," Ms. Huong said and revealed.Nearly 200 fire masks were sold out by her yesterday afternoon.