At Binh Duong bridge point, there were Mr. Vo Van Minh - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee (PPC); Mr. Mai Hung Dung - Member of Provincial Standing Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of PPC and leaders of provincial departments, committees and branches.
Fire and explosion situation is complicated and unpredictable
As reported by the Ministry of Public Security, in the past 5 years (2017-2021), there were 17,055 fires nationwide, including 15,484 fires of houses, facilities, vehicles and 1,571 forest fires; killing 433 people, injuring 790 people, preliminary damage to property was estimated at 7,043 billion VND and 7,548 hectares of forest. Particularly in the first 8 months of 2022, there were 1,136 fires nationwide, killing 57 people, injuring 52 others, preliminary property damage was estimated at 532 billion VND and 39 hectares of forest; in addition, 2,376 small incidents related to fire occurred; 10 explosions occurred, killing 07 people and injuring 11 others.
Fires and damage caused by fires are still concentrated in residential areas, residential houses, houses combined with businesses (accounting for more than 45% of total fires) and in production facilities and warehouses (accounting for more than 30% of total fires), in which there have been some fires causing serious loss of life. The main cause of fire was the failure of electrical systems and equipment, accounting for over 45% of the total cases.
Large fires occur mainly in provinces and cities with rapid economic development and urbanization, many industrial parks and concentrated residential areas.
Particularly for the rescue, in the past 5 years, the FPF and rescue police force has mobilized 235,208 turns of officers and soldiers and 30,435 turns of vehicles to participate in rescue organization for 17,938 cases of fire, explosion, incident and accident; directly saved 6,786 people, guided to escape tens of thousands of people; and found 3,350 victims' bodies and handed them over to the authorities for handling.
Overview of the conference in Hanoi
Recently, the situation of fires, explosions, incidents and accidents has become complicated and unpredictable with increasing frequency, especially fires in residential areas, high-rise apartment buildings, industrial parks, markets, commercial centers, production and business establishments, etc. and especially karaoke business establishments. Many cases have caused particularly serious consequences (most recent are the fire at a karaoke business in Cau Giay district, Hanoi on August 01, 2022, killing three soldiers of the FPF Police; the warehouse fire causing 3 deaths in Thanh Oai district, Hanoi on September 10, 2022; the fire at a karaoke business in Binh Duong on September 06, 2022, causing many deaths; the fire at a karaoke business in Dong Nai on the evening of September 11, 2022, etc.)
Delegates attend the conference at the Binh Duong bridge point
Binh Duong strictly handles business establishments that do not ensure FPF safety
Speaking at the conference, Mr. Vo Van Minh - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the PPC informed about the fire situation of An Phu karaoke business in Quarter 1, An Phu Ward, Thuan An City on September 06, 2022 as well as lessons learned from the fire.
The fire killed 32 people and injured 17 others. Up to this point, the identities of 32/32 victims have been identified and the procedures for handing over to their families have been completed. The cause of the fire, according to the authorities, may have been an electrical short.
In terms of remedial measures, currently, the province has supported the injured victims at 05 million VND/victim, the deceased at 77 million VND/victim and supported the work of finding the cause as well as the work of bringing the victims home for burial.
Chairman of the PPC Vo Van Minh speaks at the conference
After the incident, the province directed to hold a press conference to provide complete, accurate and clear information to the media. At the same time, the Provincial Police have instituted criminal proceedings to investigate and clarify the responsibilities of organizations and individuals involved in this case; focus on reviewing all karaoke business establishments in the area.
Up to now, the local police force has inspected 203 karaoke business establishments in the province, fined 119 cases and suspended the operation of 37 establishments, paid 1 billion 762 million VND to the State Treasury; and are continuing to carry out inspections for the remaining establishments.
According to the Chairman of the PPC, through the recent fire incident, Binh Duong has learned many profound lessons. For rescue work, the commander at the scene needs to urgently and be flexible in the structure of forces and means to approach, scout to grasp the situation, and urgently come up with a plan to save survivors.
For fires at karaoke business establishments with closed construction design, tube houses, many flammable materials and many toxic gases, measures must be taken to demolish the masonry walls to reduce toxic gases and access to rescue victims. Although the Ministry of Public Security and Binh Duong have invested in firefighting equipment, the recent incident shows that accessing the scene is still difficult. The drilling of walls and concrete is very difficult, each hole takes nearly an hour. Thus the golden time to save the victim is over. Thereby, it is recommended that the police branch continue to pay attention to ensure specialized rescue equipment, especially equipment for dismantling works in the shortest time.
For the state management, the FPF appraisal, especially for karaoke, discotheque, and bar business establishments, it is necessary to be very strict and resolutely handle cases of wrong expansion.
At the same time, well implementing propaganda to raise the awareness of people, enterprises and business establishments about FPF. Strengthening post-inspection to promptly detect inadequacies and handle them.
Police force inspects karaoke business establishments in the province
On behalf of Binh Duong province, Chairman of the PPC Vo Van Minh deeply thanked the Government and Prime Minister for paying attention to direct Binh Duong to focus on overcoming the consequences, immediately after the incident. In particular, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam visited and encouraged the victims' families, directed to focus on overcoming the consequences of the incident. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Public Security sent officers to Binh Duong to coordinate and direct the rescue as well as appoint the investigation police agency of the Ministry of Public Security and the Institute of Criminal Science in cooperation with Binh Duong Police to investigate the case.
Concluding remarks at the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested Ministries, branches and localities to focus on drastically and effectively implementing key tasks and solutions: Continuing to seriously and effectively implement Directive 47-CT/TW and Conclusion 02 dated May 18, 2021 of the Secretariat on strengthening the Party's leadership in FPF; documents and resolutions of the National Assembly; decrees, decisions and relevant documents of the Government and the Prime Minister. Focusing on perfecting policies and laws on FPF and rescue work.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the conference
In particular, strengthening propaganda and education on legal knowledge and skills so that people can voluntarily comply with the law on FPF and rescue; building the all-people movement for FPF and rescue. Promoting the role of people in having a sense of self-protection, from protecting themselves, then participating in protecting the community and society with the spirit of being for everyone and everyone for themselves.
On the other hand, it is necessary to tighten rules and discipline; improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the State management of FPF and rescue. In the immediate future, the Ministry of Public Security shall preside over, and coordinate with agencies, units and localities in conducting a nationwide general inspection and review of FPF, especially in areas and fields where many fires occur, karaoke business establishments, pay attention to establishments where many people gather, where there are many potential risks of fire and explosion, especially high-rise apartment buildings; strictly sanction and compel remedial measures for establishments put into operation that fail to ensure the safety conditions on FPF and rescue.
The supervision, inspection and guidance of establishments under the management must be carried out strictly and rigorously, not for personal or group interests in supervision, inspection and guidance. At the same time, it is necessary to consolidate and strengthen the local forces doing FPF and rescue work in residential areas and establishments; concentrate resources to build and synchronously develop infrastructure and techniques for FPF and rescue (traffic, communication, incident and accident warning system, etc.), build and consolidate the regular, elite, modern and adept FPF and rescue police force in law, profession, technique, firefighting and rescue tactics; appropriately arrange the FPF force in key areas, expanding the network, ensuring close to the area, close to the grassroots, close to the people, etc.
Reported by Doan Trang- Translated by Thanh Tam