Fire prevention cannot be half-hearted.

While the fire in a multi-apartment building (commonly known as a mini-apartment) on Khuong Ha Street, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi that killed 56 people is still haunting, recently, on the night of May 24, a fire in a boarding house on Trung Kinh Street (Cau Giay District, Hanoi) that killed 14 people has left many people shocked, heartbroken, and scared.

Just like the previous tragic fires, the boarding house was located deep in a small alley, making it inaccessible to fire trucks. Furthermore, this building was actually a house combined with a rental house, with the first floor selling electric bicycles and repairing electric bicycles. When the fire broke out, it engulfed the house, blocking the only exit, the entrance, and only 6 people were lucky enough to survive.

Regarding this serious fire, on the afternoon of May 25, Hanoi City Police issued a decision to initiate criminal proceedings. The Chairman of Hanoi City People's Committee also issued a telegram requesting a review of all boarding houses in the area, to be completed before June 15.

After each catastrophic fire, the cases are promptly investigated and criminally prosecuted. Authorities also thoroughly warn of fire and explosion risks, organize drills, review and inspect fire prevention and fighting, especially in areas and types of facilities with high fire and explosion risks.

It was thought that after such drastic actions by the authorities, catastrophic fires would be prevented. But unfortunate incidents continue to occur.

In the report of the Ministry of Public Security on fire prevention and fighting in 2023 sent to the Prime Minister recently, it shows that with boarding houses and multi-apartment houses, after inspecting nearly 178,200 establishments, about 101,700 establishments (accounting for 57.1%) were found to have violations of construction order, fire prevention and fighting, and electricity.

According to statistics from the Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police Department, in 2023, there were 3,440 fires nationwide, killing 146 people. The fires occurred mainly in urban areas (61.2%), with the number of house fires still accounting for the highest proportion with 1,016 fires (accounting for 29.5%). Fires caused by electrical equipment failures in households and production and business establishments still account for a high proportion.

Many causes of the above situation have been pointed out, including the fact that in localities, especially in large cities, many types of individual houses have been arbitrarily converted by people into multi-apartment houses, boarding houses with high population density, houses combined with production and business... while not ensuring fire prevention and fighting conditions. Many workers, in their hard life, have few opportunities to buy a house, especially in large cities. Finding a boarding house, even though they know there is a high risk of fire and explosion, but with a small income, it is easy to "compromise" with the landlord, ignoring standards and regulations on fire prevention and fighting safety.

The inspection and supervision of fire prevention and fighting by the authorities are not really strict, especially for households and accommodation service businesses that have many potential risks of fire and explosion. Returning to the fire on Trung Kinh Street, in the most recent inspection (about two months ago), this business was classified as having a high risk of fire and explosion due to not meeting fire prevention requirements and recommendations were issued. So the question is, why is this business still operating when it does not meet fire prevention requirements and should have been suspended until the violations are corrected?

The provision and installation of fire prevention and fighting equipment for each type of house and construction work has not been strictly implemented. Meanwhile, this has been clearly regulated. Accordingly, for works such as apartment buildings, collective houses, high-rise dormitories, mixed-use buildings, hotels, guesthouses, motels, inns, and other accommodation facilities with 7 floors or more or a total volume of 5,000 m3 or more, it is mandatory to have fire prevention and fighting design approval. Smaller-scale works do not need to be approved but are encouraged to comply with fire prevention and fighting to ensure safety during business and rental.

In addition, a large number of people are still negligent and subjective in implementing fire prevention and fighting. Although after each fire, many people are anxious and worried, trying to buy fire prevention equipment for protection (and that shopping race sometimes unintentionally pushes up the prices of ladders, gas masks, fire extinguishers, etc. and makes them scarce). But after a short time, when the anxiety from the fire has passed, many people become indifferent, even subjective, thinking that "the fire has only reached the neighbor's house, not their own house".

In order for fire prevention and fighting to be effective, the authorities need to inspect and review facilities at high risk of fire, especially mini apartments and rental service businesses with high population density. Timely detection and especially strict handling of violations according to the provisions of law.

Fire prevention and fighting must be carried out continuously, using many measures, not just after each fire, with a big push, but then everything is still like "beating the drum and leaving the stick", not being handled thoroughly, leading to heartbreaking fire and explosion incidents continuing to occur.

Fire prevention and fighting is the responsibility of all people, not just the management agencies or related ministries, departments and branches. Every citizen needs to be more fully aware of fire prevention and fighting, to avoid falling into the passive situation of "closing the barn door after the horse has fled". Fire prevention is not simply buying enough escape tools to have in the house, but also equipping oneself with the skills to use them. In places with high risk of fire and explosion such as crowded residential areas, boarding houses, business establishments, etc., fire prevention must be considered continuous and urgent.

More fundamentally, to contribute to solving the root of the problem, it is necessary to thoroughly resolve the situation of spontaneous rental housing. Workers, especially those with housing difficulties and low-income people, have more opportunities to access to rent or buy social housing projects.

Fire prevention and firefighting require both temporary and long-term solutions, and cannot be implemented half-heartedly. In any case, “fire prevention” is still better than “firefighting” to minimize the heartbreaking and unfortunate incidents that may occur.