Director of Hanoi Police talks about handling personal responsibility in mini apartment fire

On the afternoon of September 20, National Assembly deputies of Hanoi met with voters of Tay Ho district before the 6th session of the 15th National Assembly.

At the conference, many voters mentioned the mini apartment fire that occurred on the night of September 12 in Khuong Dinh ward (Thanh Xuan district), which caused particularly serious consequences, killing 56 people.

At the same time, voters also recommended that the city and the National Assembly have solutions to prevent fires and explosions, ensuring the safety of people's lives and property.

Voter Vu Phi Hung (Thuy Khue ward) said that according to regulations, the appraisal file for approving the design on fire prevention and fighting (PCCC) with the structure of the building must be fire-resistant, have solutions to prevent fire, escape, prevent smoke accumulation; equip fire prevention equipment with inspection certificates, plan to supply water for fire fighting outside the house for some special types of buildings and some other standards...

Lieutenant General Nguyen Hai Trung, Director of Hanoi City Police Department, answered voters at the conference. (Photo: Le Son)

Voters of Thuy Khue ward said that after the fire at a mini apartment building on Khuong Ha street, some experts said that this building had many factors that did not ensure fire safety.

Voters stated that according to the granted construction permit, the investor of this project was only allowed to build a 6-storey, 1-attic single-family house with a construction density of 70%, but built 9 floors, 1-attic with a construction density of 100%.

“As a National Assembly delegate and Director of Hanoi City Police, what do you think about the city's current fire prevention and fighting work and effective solutions to ensure the safety of people's lives and property?” voter Vu Phi Hung asked Director of Hanoi City Police Nguyen Hai Trung.

Responding to voters' petitions, Lieutenant General Nguyen Hai Trung, Director of Hanoi City Police, stated that voters' opinions on fire prevention and fighting are all very hot issues.

“Fire prevention and fighting work is defined by the Party and State in the Constitution and laws as the responsibility of the entire political system and the cause of all people,” said Mr. Trung, adding that the Police is just one of the State management agencies on fire prevention and fighting, with the role of advising Party committees and authorities at all levels on fire prevention and fighting work.

The Director of Hanoi Police mentioned the golden hour factor in fire prevention and fighting (extinguishing the fire within the first 5 minutes) and emphasized that on-site fire fighting is extremely important. This must start with raising awareness, equipping knowledge and skills for each family and citizen about fire prevention and fighting to promptly handle situations when incidents occur.

According to the Director of Hanoi City Police, Hanoi's current fire prevention infrastructure is a "matter of concern". The summary shows that the most common fires are single-family homes combined with businesses. The most common cause of fires is electricity behind the meter.

The fire that caused the most deaths was the ITC Shopping Center fire that killed 60 people in 2002, followed by the mini apartment fire in Thanh Xuan district that killed 54 people, followed by karaoke bar fires in Binh Duong and Hanoi.

“Although the authorities and the press have been propagandizing a lot, the awareness of each citizen is not uniform. We have to take care of ourselves first…”, Mr. Trung said.

A mini apartment building in Khuong Ha (Thanh Xuan district) caught fire on the night of September 12.

According to the Director of Hanoi City Police, the city's characteristics are "small alleys, small streets, and crowded houses", so it is very difficult to make fire prevention plans. Currently, the arrangement of pillars, hydrants, and water tanks to ensure fire prevention is very difficult, many areas in the inner city are inaccessible to fire trucks. In addition, many industrial parks and export processing zones built before 2001 to date do not meet new fire prevention standards.

“It’s not like we’ve locked the barn door after the horse has fled. The Ministry of Public Security and the City have issued many directives, but there are things that are beyond our control. In June 2023, we also issued a plan to conduct a general review of apartment buildings, especially mini-apartments. There are also things that we have done our best to do, but there is no solution yet,” said Mr. Trung.

The City Police Director said that after checking for signs of violations against 3 Party organizations in Thanh Xuan district, the relevant organizations and individuals will certainly be held accountable for their responsibility in State management of fire prevention and fighting.

At the conference, Chairman of Tay Ho District People's Committee Nguyen Dinh Khuyen said that the district is implementing a plan to conduct a general inspection of mini apartments and boarding houses in the district.

“After initial review, there are about 19 mini apartment buildings in the district, with many households living and renting. Within the authority, the district will review and propose specific solutions to ensure fire safety for each building. Anything beyond our authority will be reported to the city in October,” said Mr. Khuyen.

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