Unanswered questions after mini apartment fire

After the fire on Khuong Ha street, the question of why the mini apartment building was built without permission but was not handled, whether the fire originated from an electrical outlet or an electric car... is still unanswered.

The fire at the mini apartment building at No. 37, Lane 29/70, Khuong Ha Street, Khuong Dinh Ward, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi , killed 56 people and injured 37 others, making it the fire with the highest loss of life in the past 21 years. Authorities are still blocking off the scene and investigating the cause of the fire. There are currently many questions related to the fire and the type of mini apartment building.

Why are mini apartments built without permits but not handled?

8 years ago, Mr. Nghiem Quang Minh (residing in Cau Giay district, Hanoi) was granted a permit by Thanh Xuan district to build a 6-storey single-family house, with a first-floor construction area of ​​167 m2, a density of 70%, and a total building height of 20.2 m at No. 37, Lane 29/70, Khuong Ha Street. However, he turned the low-rise housing project into a 10-storey mini apartment building with a construction area of ​​230 m2, each floor divided into 5 apartments for sale. This place is currently home to 45 households with 150 people.

With the scale of a high-rise building combined with business, after the inspection on September 14, the leaders of the Ministry of Construction pointed out many violations of fire prevention and fighting such as: Lack of a second escape ladder, the current staircase is open so it is easily contaminated with smoke, there is no road for fire trucks. Hanoi police determined that the burning house had signs of serious violations of construction order (illegally building 4 floors, building almost the entire area of ​​the plot), regulations on fire prevention and fighting.

The mini apartment building that caught fire was much taller than the surrounding houses, located in an alley only 3 meters wide. Photo: Giang Huy

In fact, as soon as it came into operation, this apartment building received many letters of protest from neighbors and was twice fined by Thanh Xuan District, according to Mr. Le Ba Mao, 75 years old, former head of the neighborhood group and head of the security team in Khuong Dinh Ward. However, the reason why the illegal construction project located just over 2 km from Thanh Xuan District People's Committee has not been handled is still unanswered.

On the evening of September 15, two days after the fire, Hanoi Party Secretary Dinh Tien Dung directed the investigation agencies to start from the construction licensing stage and organize inspections of three Party establishments in Thanh Xuan district (Standing Committee of the District Party Committee, Thanh Xuan District Police Party Committee and Khuong Dinh Ward Party Committee for the 2015-2020 and 2020-2025 terms) to clarify the responsibilities of individuals related to the burned building.

Where did the fire start?

According to Mr. Ngo Pho Dien, a security guard at the mini apartment building, at 11pm on September 12, he was on duty when he discovered an electrical outlet on the first floor on fire. The fire was small, so he picked up a fire extinguisher and sprayed it. "But the more he sprayed, the bigger the fire became, so I quickly shouted to alert the residents," he said.

Some residents near the scene said that the fire came from an electric vehicle exploding on the first floor of a mini-apartment building. This information caused confusion for electric vehicle users and many housing operators. Many mini-apartments, landlords, and even commercial apartments have issued regulations prohibiting charging electric vehicles in basements and parking lots, and even terminating rentals if tenants use electric motorbikes.

The corner of the wall where the electricity meter of a household was hung was burned down. Photo: Giang Huy

According to fire prevention experts, electric vehicles may not be the source of the fire, but they will be the factor that makes the fire more serious. The reason is that the lithium-ion battery of electric vehicles burns very quickly, gives off a lot of heat, and requires a lot of effort and time to put out the fire because the battery can catch fire again.

The Ministry of Public Security and Hanoi Police have directed functional forces to focus on urgently investigating the cause of the fire and accurately identifying the source of the fire.

Why is the death toll slow to be announced?

The fire broke out at 11pm on September 12 and was extinguished around 1am on September 13. The rescue and search for bodies ended at 7am on September 13. The injured were taken to Bach Mai, Dong Da, Ha Dong, Hanoi Medical, and Post Office hospitals. The bodies of the victims were taken to the morgue of Military Hospital 103.

Hearing the news of the fire, relatives of the victims from many provinces and cities rushed to the scene of the fire, the police station and Khuong Dinh ward headquarters, hospitals and funeral homes to search for their loved ones. "We have been to nearly ten hospitals but have not found our granddaughter yet," said the grandfather of a victim who lives on the third floor of the mini apartment building.

At 8:00 a.m. on September 13, the Thanh Xuan District People's Committee reported that 70 people had been rescued and 54 had been taken to the emergency room, including one who died. The authorities assessed the fire as particularly serious, but there were no fatalities yet. It was not until 7:00 p.m., 12 hours after the last body was removed from the scene, that Hanoi announced 56 dead and 37 injured.

A victim of the fire is treated at Bach Mai Hospital. Photo : Le Nga

Immediately after the fire, leaders of the Government and the National Assembly visited the scene and the hospital to visit the victims, direct the handling of the consequences and conduct a general inspection of fire prevention and fighting in crowded, high-density housing types that are prone to fire and explosion. Hanoi also issued policies to support the victims of death and injury, exempting hospital fees and supporting students in buying books.

However, up to now, the city has not yet held a press conference to provide information about the fire, nor to explain why the illegal apartment building has not been handled, why the announcement of human damage has been delayed, and a series of other questions.

Why are there no fire prevention regulations or standards for mini apartments?

Multi-storey, multi-apartment detached houses (also known as mini-apartments) are popular in large cities, with about 2,000 in Hanoi and 42,200 in Ho Chi Minh City for rent. However, there are currently no specific regulations on fire prevention standards for this type of house.

According to Mr. Vu Ngoc Anh, Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Environment, Ministry of Construction, "mini apartments" are not currently included in legal documents, and are not recognized or assessed for construction documents under this name.

Thanh Xuan District has many mini apartments, attracting young families and students to live there. Photo: Ngoc Thanh

The 2014 Housing Law does not have the concept of mini apartments, only individual houses, apartment buildings, and social housing. When applying for a construction permit, the owner of the mini apartment building on Khuong Ha Street and many other homeowners often circumvent the law by applying for a construction permit for individual houses under 6 floors (without fire prevention and fighting assessment), then converting the function to commercial housing for sale or rent.

When converting from single-family homes to mini-apartments, most buildings do not meet fire safety standards and are not eligible for "red books" for apartments because the owner has not declared the purpose of use during construction, and the building does not meet design and fire safety approval requirements. This is also the reason for legal disputes between buyers and investors.

In fact, the problems of mini apartments did not only appear after the fire in Khuong Ha but have existed for decades, so why is there still no solution? Meanwhile, this type of apartment building partly helps solve the problem of housing shortage for low- and middle-income people in big cities.

To address the above situation, the Prime Minister recently requested the Ministry of Construction to supplement fire prevention and fighting standards for mini-apartments and high-density rental facilities. The Ministry should soon amend the regulations and standards for individual housing.

Mr. Duy

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