Fire truck blocked by concrete pillar while fighting forest fire in Nghe An

The fire in Dien Loc commune, Dien Chau district lasted from noon on July 10 until 10:30 pm the same day before it was basically brought under control. This is considered one of the longest forest fires in the commune and one of the reasons why the fire fighting work was delayed was because the fire trucks were "blocked" by concrete pillars.

The fire truck was "stuck" in Hamlet 4, Dien Loc Commune because it could not reach the scene. Photo provided by the People's Committee of Dien Loc Commune

It is known that as soon as the fire broke out, the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department mobilized forces and 5 fire trucks to Dien Loc commune to extinguish the fire. However, at around 3:00 p.m. on July 10, when the fire trucks arrived at the scene in hamlet 4, they were "stuck" because the concrete pillars on the village road were blocking the road, and the fire trucks could not pass.

Soldiers demolished concrete pillars in Dien Loc commune. Photo cut from clip

Faced with the critical situation, firefighters had to use tools to break down these two pillars so that the fire trucks could enter to do their job. Breaking down the concrete pillars took a lot of time, causing the firefighting work to be prolonged and the fire to spread.

Mr. Hoang Ngoc Tinh - Secretary of the Party Cell of Hamlet 4, Dien Loc Commune said: "Those two concrete pillars were made in 2014, when we built this new rural road. The purpose of doing so was to limit the passage of heavy trucks, which could damage the road that the people and the government had worked together to build. However, through this incident, we see that the construction of concrete pillars has caused problems that we could not have foreseen before."

Concrete pillar after being demolished. Photo: Quang An

Talking to reporters, Mr. Phan Huy Thanh - Chairman of the People's Committee of Dien Loc commune said: In fact, when the fire broke out, people in hamlet 4 together broke down the pillars for the fire fighting forces to do their duty. However, because these concrete pillars were thick and very solid, people could not destroy them. After that, the forces had to use sledgehammers and drills to be able to destroy the pillars.

"We have also inspected the roads in the commune and removed similar pillars to avoid future incidents," Mr. Thanh emphasized.

Previously, on June 29, a forest fire also broke out in Dien Phu commune (Dien Chau). However, when the army vehicles arrived at the site, they were "stuck" because of the concrete pillars on the village road, forcing the soldiers to walk to the scene to put out the fire, which not only prolonged the firefighting work but also exhausted the firefighters' strength.

It can be seen that the construction of concrete pillars on village roads in Nghe An is still popular in some localities. Although it has the ability to limit heavy vehicles, the reality shows that these concrete pillars cause many inconveniences. In particular, the most frequent are many traffic accidents and vehicle collisions when passing through these pillars.

More dangerous are the times when natural disasters or fires occur, and police vehicles cannot reach the scene, causing serious consequences like the recent case in Dien Loc commune.

There are still many concrete pillars on village roads in the province. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Currently, the Provincial Office of the National Target Program for New Rural Development has proposed that localities demolish those concrete pillars and instead install traffic signs about the road's load capacity. Doing so will protect the quality of the road to serve the people's travel needs, limit traffic accidents, help the force not encounter obstacles when natural disasters occur and create a cultural feature of the countryside./.

Quang An