Welding - a dangerous "culprit" causing many serious fires
(Baonghean) - Welding that does not comply with fire safety regulations is the "culprit" of many fires that have caused particularly serious consequences in recent times.
Serious fire due to welding
At around 9:30 a.m. on March 18, residents living near the Avatar hotel, bar, and karaoke complex on Nguyen Sy Sach Street, next to Thai Thuong Hoang Hospital (Vinh City), saw smoke rising from the basement and first floor of the hotel. Residents shouted and the hotel staff called the fire police. Upon receiving the information, the fire police (Nghe An Police) mobilized 4 specialized fire trucks, ladder trucks, and more than 50 officers and soldiers to quickly approach the scene to put out the fire and provide rescue.
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| Fire caused by welding at Avatar hotel, bar and karaoke complex. Photo: Archive |
Vinh City Police also mobilized the Fire Prevention and Fighting Team, the Traffic Police force, professional teams and police from neighboring wards to participate in firefighting, traffic division and traffic guidance on surrounding roads. By 12:10 p.m. the same day, the fire at the Avatar hotel, bar and karaoke complex was controlled by the authorities. The provincial Fire Prevention and Fighting Force successfully rescued 3 victims, however, in this fire, 1 victim died on the 8th floor of the building.
According to Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Director of the Provincial Police, "the cause of the fire was due to Avatar Hotel renovating a karaoke room, the welding process caused a fire, killing 1 person, causing relatively large damage, the Provincial Police will soon prosecute this case".
This fire once again shows that welding and cutting metal is not considered too dangerous, but if done carelessly and not carefully, it can still cause tragic consequences and great damage to people and property.
"Many fires have occurred in the area due to carelessness caused by welding."
For example, at noon on January 28, 2015, in Block 4, Quan Hanh Town (Nghi Loc District), a fire broke out, burning down a house, as well as affecting neighboring households. The cause of the fire was determined to be due to the process of making a roof in front of the house, the family could not control the fire from welding slag. When the whole family was away, the fire spread, causing a fire.
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| Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Provincial Police Department directed the fire fighting at the Avatar hotel, bar and karaoke complex. Photo: Dang Cuong |
Previously, in early 2003, at the expansion area of a factory on Phan Dang Luu Street (Vinh City), a fierce fire broke out, the flames were over 30m high, and the smoke was thick. After receiving the report, the fire police force was present to extinguish the fire, but the damage was still up to over 500 million VND. The cause was later determined to be that a welding team was welding the technological pipeline system on the 4th tank in the 9-tank system in the expansion area, causing welding slag to splash into the insulation layer between the tank shell and the tank body, causing the insulation to burn.
According to the report on the implementation of policies and laws on fire prevention and fighting in the period of 2014 - 2018, in the past 4 years, although the situation of fire and explosion in the province has been controlled, there were times when it still occurred frequently. Accordingly, the whole province had 347 fires, killing 7 people, injuring 11 people, and causing property damage of about 64.1 billion VND. In addition, there were 8 explosions that killed 3 people and injured 19 people.
Pay attention to safety conditions when welding
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Dinh Hanh said that compared to other localities in the country, the number of fires in the province caused by welding is not much, but it really needs to sound the alarm bell. Because currently, the demand for renovation, expansion, and upgrading of factories, houses, bars, karaoke, entertainment areas... is increasing, in addition to renovation and upgrading, there is also frequent replacement of signs... Most of them are related to welding.
Meanwhile, through the reality of fires caused by welding, it shows that the hired welders all work at small mechanical processing facilities, households, and freelance workers without basic training, but mainly self-study through the craft and do not have fire prevention and fighting skills as well as do not understand the dangerous characteristics of fire and explosion when welding and cutting metals.
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| Necessary safety conditions must be ensured when welding. Illustration photo |
It is worth mentioning that during the welding and cutting process, many places have been lax in not assigning people to look after them, and have not taken measures to isolate flammable materials and goods from the welding and cutting area. Most of them leave it to the welders, but when an incident occurs, the metal welders do not know how to use the tools and fire-fighting equipment on site, so they often cannot stay calm, are confused, and afraid; they do not know how to handle and extinguish the fire as soon as it arises, causing unpredictable consequences.
"When welding or cutting metal, the temperature at the center of the flame can reach 3,0000C, the weld temperature also reaches 1,8000C. Accordingly, the welding and cutting process will generate metal particles with temperatures up to more than 1,0000C shoots out around and if it comes into contact with flammable materials such as paper, foam, wood, it will easily catch fire and cause a fire. In addition, during the construction process (even when grinding equipment), if you do not pour water after finishing, and then accidentally drop flammable objects, it will immediately turn into fire if it is windy..."
Mr. Nguyen Van Dung in Nghi Kim commune, Vinh city, level 6/7 welderThe risk of fire and explosion from welding is a clear reality, so according to Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Thanh - Head of the Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Department (Nghe An Police): In order to effectively implement fire prevention and fighting in general as well as to prevent unfortunate fires caused by welding activities, in addition to proactively coordinating with press and radio agencies to strengthen the dissemination of laws on fire prevention and fighting and regulations on metal welding and cutting establishments, the authorities will maintain basic investigation of welding and cutting establishments with fire and explosion risks to classify and manage records, especially focusing on welding and cutting in residential areas with high risk of fire and explosion. Resolutely handle and suspend establishments that do not ensure fire prevention and fighting safety. During the inspection process, if any establishment is found to violate regulations on fire prevention and fighting and is likely to cause fire, it must be relocated from the residential area.
Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department, Nghe An Police recommends: When welders work, the head of the facility must supervise the activities or assign someone to closely supervise. At the same time, the facility must equip fire prevention equipment before welding, such as placing water and wet rags at points 30 cm away from the weld, spreading towels or wet rags below the welding area, around the welding area to create a partition to prevent sparks from flying out, causing danger.
For welders, in addition to personal protective equipment, before welding, they must observe whether there are any flammable objects in the work area to move and cover them. At the same time, check the status of water, sand, and fire extinguishers equipped in the welding area to respond promptly when an incident occurs.