The Prime Minister requested a general review of fire prevention and fighting work in apartment buildings and karaoke bars.

Fire and explosion cause great damage to people and property

Over time,fire and explosion situation, incidents and accidents are becoming more complex, unpredictable, and increasingly frequent, especially fires in residential areas, high-rise apartments, industrial parks, markets, shopping centers, production and business establishments, etc.

In the 5 years (from 2017 to 2021), there were 17,055 fires nationwide (including 15,484 fires in houses, facilities, vehicles and 1,571 forest fires). The fires killed 433 people, injured 790 people, with preliminary property damage estimated at VND 7,043 billion and 7,548 hectares of forest. In addition, there were 149 explosions, killing 64 people, injuring 190 people, and causing property damage of VND 1.14 billion.

In the first 8 months of 2022, there were 1,136 fires nationwide, killing 57 people, injuring 52 people, causing preliminary property damage estimated at 532 billion VND and 39 hectares of forest; there were 10 explosions, killing 7 people, injuring 11 people.

Many cases have caused particularly serious consequences, such as the karaoke bar fire in Cau Giay district, Hanoi on August 1, 2022, which killed 3 fire police officers; the warehouse fire that killed 3 mothers and children in Thanh Oai, Hanoi on September 10, 2022. Or the most serious is the karaoke bar fire in Binh Duong on September 6, 2022, which killed 32 people...

Panorama of the conference at Nghe An bridge. Photo: Tien Dong

In that situation, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Government Standing Committee requested: The Ministry of Public Security to preside over and coordinate with agencies to direct the investigation, clarify the causes and responsibilities of state management agencies, local authorities, licensing and inspection agencies and related individuals, ensuring objectivity. At the same time, organize a conference to review and evaluatefire prevention and fighting workand results after 5 years of implementing Decree 83/2017/ND-CP regulating rescue work of fire prevention and fighting forces.

Firefighters put out a fire at a Tea Room on Dinh Cong Trang Street in 2021. This is the most serious fire involving a house and rental business in Vinh City. Photo: Document

In Nghe An, from August 2017 to April 2022, there were 568 accidents and incidents. Of which, 403 were fires; 2 were explosions; 6 were house collapses; and 9 were accidents with people trapped.

In addition, there were 35 road, railway and inland waterway traffic accidents requiring rescue; 107 drowning accidents and 6 other accidents and incidents.

Fires, explosions and accidents in the area over the past five years have also killed 141 people, including 10 people who died in fire and explosion incidents; 131 people died in drowning, traffic accidents, and house and building collapses.

Organizing fire prevention and fighting drills at high-rise apartment buildings in Vinh city. Photo: Nguyen Hai

To carry out rescue work, the authorities also organized 258 command vehicles, 2,237 fire trucks, 126 rescue vehicles, 235 canoes, motorboats, along with specialized vehicles and equipment, and 16,904 officers and soldiers to promptly rescue fires, explosions, incidents, and accidents. They guided thousands of people to escape in fires and incidents; directly rescued 219 people, with the estimated value of saved assets reaching hundreds of billions of VND.

Review fire prevention and fighting work in apartment buildings, karaoke bars...

Faced with the reality of increasingly serious fires and explosions, complicated accidents, causing great damage to people and property, at the conference, many opinions said that it is necessary to improve institutions, regulations on responsibilities, coordination and responsibility, forms of sanctions of relevant parties; regulations, standards; overcome overlaps related to fire prevention, firefighting and rescue work in localities. There should be a mechanism to coordinate forces for fire prevention, firefighting, rescue and rescue activities for key economic zones, industrial parks, export processing zones... Some opinions also suggested that the Government pay attention to investing to increase the mobility and effectiveness of fire prevention and fighting, including equipping firefighting helicopters, river firefighting boats or robots, robots participating in firefighting, increasing vehicles, ladders and other rescue and rescue means.

Authorities participated in firefighting at Thap - Hong - Ky Industrial Cluster (Dien Chau) on the night of June 16, 2022. Photo: Nghe An Newspaper Document

Some opinions also suggested that the National Assembly soon promulgate the Law on Forces Participating in Protecting Security and Order at the Grassroots Level to have a mechanism to mobilize mass forces and semi-professional forces to participate in fire prevention, firefighting, rescue and relief work more widely and in large numbers. At the same time, it is recommended that the Government study and amend Decree No. 83 of the Government and related Circulars and instructions of the Ministry of Public Security on rescue and relief work to suit the new model after merging the Fire Prevention, Firefighting and Rescue Police into the Public Security of provinces and cities according to the new model.

Representatives of the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the current legal system, standards and regulations still have many shortcomings. There are some licensed projects, especially business establishments that have design appraisal, design approval, and fire prevention and fighting plans, but who will appraise private projects that do not need a construction permit? And after approval, who will carry out the construction and check the completion? Arson is a criminal act but the punishment is not yet strict. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly regulate electrical safety in the Construction Law.

At the same time, tighten regulations on granting business licenses. Fire prevention and fighting in private businesses need to be closely monitored. Welders are the major cause of fires and explosions, fires at many karaoke bars were also caused by welders, but currently no one has licensed welders, and inspection of their machinery has not been strictly carried out.

It is necessary to promote the application of digital transformation and digitization, fire forecasting because timeliness and effectiveness in fire prevention and fighting are the key factors. When planning construction, it is necessary to closely link with fire prevention and fighting planning, attach importance to infrastructure and design for fire prevention and fighting, especially in areas with potential risks such as industrial parks, industrial clusters, and urban areas.

Using escape pipes to bring victims to safety during a fire prevention and fighting drill. Photo: Thanh Cuong

In his concluding remarks at the Conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that it is necessary to have a correct understanding of fire prevention, fire fighting, rescue and relief work in the new period. Perfecting institutions and investing in synchronous equipment to effectively prevent fires and explosions. Strengthening the forces participating in fire prevention, fire fighting, rescue and relief on the spot...

The Prime Minister also criticized many ministries, branches and localities for not developing a Plan to implement Decree No. 83 of the Government even though this Decree was issued 5 years ago. This proves that all levels, branches and localities have not taken drastic action and have not seriously implemented leadership and direction in fire prevention, fire fighting, rescue and relief work.

Therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly grasp the Government's directives, develop specific action plans and programs, and avoid subjectivity. The Prime Minister also requested localities to conduct a general inspection and review of fire prevention and fighting work, especially in high-rise apartment buildings, markets, and karaoke bars. Punish and promptly deter violators in order to minimize and eventually contain accidents related to fire and explosion.