Vietnam - Firemen ponder 17-storey limit

More and more skyscrapers are being built but whether fire fighting and prevention are developed enough to ensure safety for dwellers remains a headache for firefighters.

Deputy head of the Ha Noi Department of Fire Prevention and Fights To Xuan Thieu recently admitted that firefighters face many challenges in the battle, stressing that ladders only reach the 17th storey of buildings.

"The highest ladder firefighters have is 53metres high, which is equivalent to the height of a 17-storey building," he said.

"It does not mean that firefighters cannot work at higher buildings, but it will take longer time to access such target areas," he said.

However, he stressed that the key problem was not the height of the ladders, as many other countries use the same height standard.

It is hard for fire-trucks to move in crowded or small streets which are common in this country.

"High-rise buildings themselves should be prepared to prevent fires, as well as equipped with standard automatic fire-fighting system," Thieu said.

Under the current regulations, set by the construction ministry, investors are required to equip buildings higher than 25 metres with an automatic fire fighting system.

The safety question is put to investors, but a survey by the municipal Fire Police Department early this year revealed shocking inadequacies in fire safety. It showed that only three percent of 924 public places inspected in Ha Noi met fire fighting and prevention regulations, including high-rise buildings, residential quarters, schools, hospitals and cinemas.

"Inspection revealed that fire fighting systems in many buildings were degraded while many fire-escapes were outdated," said Thieu.

"Fire police often inspect high-risk areas, including residential buildings, and ask building management boards to upgrade their fire fighting and prevention system to ensure safety for the residents," he said.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, a resident of a 22-storey apartment building in Dong Da District, said the building was well equipped with fire-fighting tools such as fire-extinguisher, fire alarm and fire-escape.

However, the problem was that he himself, like most of people living in the building, did not know how to use fire-extinguishers in case of fire.

"Since we moved to live here, no one from the building management board instructed us on how to use the firefighting equipment or where to escape in case of fire. They have never held any fire fighting drill for the residents," Tuan said.

"It is much different from other countries. I still remembered when I lived in the UK and Russia, whenever I moved to a new building, the house management board always gave me safety instructions, including how to use the fire-fighting equipment or what should I do in an emergency," he added.

"But here, we have no choice but to try and figure it out ourselves," he said.

"Another problem is that some of the fire fighting and prevention equipment here is out of order and not maintained. The fire alarm, for example, sometimes automatically rings without fire, making us accustomed to hearing it and not knowing whether there is a real fire or not. It's dangerous to get used to rings as a result of error," he complained.

A member of the management board of a residential building in Cau Giay District, Le Minh Xuan, said the building was well equipped with fire-extinguishers, a fire-escape plan and fire alarms, but was not yet equipped with an automatic fire fighting system.

"However, we often check our firefighting equipment and ask dwellers to strictly abide by fire-prevention regulations and leave fire-escape clear," he said.

"But fund shortages are a challenge for us in keeping the equipment under regular maintenance," he added.

Deputy director Thieu stressed that investors and building management boards should set aside funds for installing and regularly upgrading fire fighting and prevention systems to ensure the safety of dwellers.

Residents themselves, Thieu said, should be vigilant over fire prevention, such as turning off all electrical devices when going out and avoiding the use flammable materials.

Fire exits were often blocked with personal possessions, motorbikes or even cars, making it difficult to escape in an emergency, he said.

"In case of fire, they should compose themselves to avoid chaos, move to the nearest emergency exits or gather on balconies to get help from rescuers," he said.

"In many cases, people died not because of fire but because of being trampled or being too nervous to escape," he added.

"Other ways of escaping, such as jumping or climbing down makeshift rope ladders should only be a last resort. People should stay low to the ground during a fire and use wet masks to avoid smoke inhalation," he said.

More challenges

Shortage of equipment is another challenge facing municipal fire-fighters. There are 59 specialised vehicles, but 60 per cent of them are of low quality.

A shortage of fire hydrants in the capital is also hindering efforts by fire-fighters to put out fires. According to international standards, every 15km of urban roads should be equipped with 100 fire hydrants.

"However, in the urban areas of Viet Nam, fire hydrants fall far short of demand. Their numbers only meet 3 to 5 per cent of the international standard and Ha Noi alone needs an addition of more than 5,000 hydrants," Thieu said.

Dealing with the challenges, the department is studying a plan to install 500 more hydrants in the city, and it has approval from the municipal authorities for a project to buy more fire trucks worth VND600 billion (US$30 million).

"The first batch of fire trucks is expected to be delivered in October this year," Thieu said.

Shortage of staff was also a problem, he said, stressing that each team of around 100 fire-fighters now had to do the job of four teams after Ha Noi's administrative boundary was extended.

"As a result, we have to provide training for local militia to do the job in case professional fire-fighters cannot come in a timely manner," he said.

Ha Noi has 364 high-rise buildings, many of which have more than 10 storeys. Several projects are underway in the capital city for the construction of more high-rise buildings with up to 80 storeys.

The first six months of this year saw 122 fires and explosions in Ha Noi, killing three people, injuring 13 others and causing an estimated loss of VND9 billion ($450,000).

Last year's fire at an 18-storey building in Thanh Xuan District killed two people.

Source: VNS

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