'Turning' individual houses into mini apartments will be dangerous for society

After the fire in Thanh Xuan district that killed 56 people, Hanoi City conducted a general inspection of the area, discovering about 2,000 mini apartments, most of which were concentrated in Bac Tu Liem, Nam Tu Liem, Dong Da, Thanh Xuan, Cau Giay, and Tay Ho districts.

In reality, there are cases of arbitrarily converting and changing the function of individual houses into mini apartments, but the investors do not report to the authorities. That makes people worry about ensuring fire safety in these mini apartment buildings.

According to Colonel Nguyen Minh Khuong, Deputy Director of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department ( Ministry of Public Security ), for facility owners and construction owners, converting a construction without reporting to the authorities is extremely dangerous.

158476e6a09577cb2e84 1244.jpeg — Thach That district licensed a single-family home, but the investor built it into a mini apartment complex. Photo: Quang Phong

With multi-apartment buildings, fire safety requirements are mandatory. Therefore, if the investor changes the function without notifying the authorities, the old fire safety conditions of the building will no longer ensure the new function.

Therefore, when a fire occurs, the fire alarm system does not meet the requirements, the equipment for fire fighting and the rescue for that project is also not guaranteed...

According to Colonel Nguyen Minh Khuong, if a building is converted without notifying the authorities, the fire police force and the management unit will not know what fire fighting equipment the building needs to be equipped with, what fire fighting plans and rescue and relief organization are needed.

“For constructions with fire and explosion hazards, we are only allowed to inspect twice a year. For other constructions, we are only allowed to inspect once a year,” said Colonel Khuong.

Therefore, according to the Deputy Director of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department, the act of changing the function of a building without notifying the authorities is a dangerous act for society and for people living in and near that building.

Colonel Nguyen Minh Khuong recommends that for those living in that building, when the investor or homeowner changes the function of the building, they should immediately notify the authorities so that we can promptly grasp the information and handle that case according to the provisions of the law.

In addition, local authorities also need to strengthen management to promptly detect and notify us of violations so that we can take measures to handle them in accordance with regulations, thereby minimizing damage to people and property.

Rescue in buildings like mini apartments faces many difficulties

After the mini apartment fire in Khuong Dinh ward (Thanh Xuan district), Hanoi residents in particular and the whole country in general are concerned about the difficulties and complexities in fire prevention and fighting in high-rise apartments and mini apartments.

According to Colonel Nguyen Minh Khuong, the main difficulty in extinguishing apartment fires is the height of the building. With the height of the apartment building, when the functional forces approach the upper floors, it will take more time.

mini apartment 12.jpeg — A mini apartment building in Khuong Ha caught fire on the night of September 12, killing 56 people.

With mini apartment buildings like the fire that occurred in Thanh Xuan district, this is a type of building that exists in a very narrow alley. Fire trucks must park about 300m away from the building.

“And with such a distance, the time it takes us to deploy fire-fighting equipment such as water, foam, etc. to reach the scene will take more time,” Colonel Khuong shared.

In addition, with the meeting space, the alley is only about 2m wide, so the fire police cannot deploy the rescue ladders to the 3rd and 4th floors of the building. Therefore, the fire department can only use the ladder to go to the 2nd floor of the house, then use their bare hands to hold on to the iron bars of the door, reach the upper floors, and rescue the victims.

Mini apartment buildings usually have parking on the first floor. When a fire breaks out, the first floor creates a stream of smoke and fire, which flows into the open stairwell and then goes up to the upper floors, causing a terrible heat. Therefore, the fire department must use equipment to break down the first floor door, extinguish the fire on the first floor, and then approach the fire inside the house.

To save the victims from the fire, it takes a "golden time". If the "golden time" is exceeded by just a few seconds, the victims' lives may be in danger. From that, it can be seen that approaching the fire and rescuing the victims is extremely difficult for mini apartment buildings.

However, in the recent fires, we also highly appreciate the efforts of some officers and soldiers who tried very hard, tried every way to approach the fire as quickly as possible, to bring the victims out of the scene in the safest way.

Mini apartment fire: How to install fire escape ladders to keep people safe?

Installing fire escape ladders is a necessary solution for mini apartments that do not have fire escapes. These types of ladders have standards in Circular QCVN 06:2022/BXD.

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