Unexpected blazes occurring at adjacent houses in a residential area, housing in combination with business and production tends to increase and develop complicatedly, causing great damage to people and property. According to fire prevention and fighting force, the main cause of the fire was an electrical system failure and the people's negligence in using petrol, gas and chemicals.

Rescuers from the Da Nang Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police Division carried out fire fighting at a store located on Le Van Hien Stree, Khue My Ward, Ngu Hanh Son District, August 7, 2022. Photo: LE HUNG

Risk of fire and explosion at sites for residence combined with business

According to the Da Nang Fire Prevention, Fighting and Rescue Police Division, through a survey of about 6,700 home-based businesses in the city, the functional forces found that all of them have one thing in common: making the most of the space to store goods, most of which are flammable. The emergency exit on the lower floor is firmly installed with rolling and iron doors and the exits on the upper floor are fully covered by signs and billboards.

In addition, these houses use a lot of fire and heat sources and the use of electricity is not safe. In particular, at night, all vehicles such as motorbikes and even cars are brought into the house...

Through factual recognition, the majority of houses in combination with business premises are mainly distributed in inner urban districts, around traditional markets, and on busy trade streets with shops selling flammable goods such as clothing, shoes, cotton. fabric, votive material, chemicals, scrap collection, along with convenience stores.

There are many houses that take advantage of the facade to place advertising boards, install layers of doors and iron cages to seal balcony and window due to fears over thefts. Therefore, when there is a fire or explosion incident, it not only cannot escape quickly and promptly, but also causes many difficulties for competent forces to access them for fire fighting and rescue.

Highly beware of fires in small alleys

In some residential areas in the city, there are many small houses located deep in alleys with a network of electrical wires, close together, potentially posing a great fire risk. As noted, houses in alleys are designed in the form of a ‘tube’ house, with only one emergency exit at the main door.

According to the Da Nang Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Department, in residential areas,  overloaded electrical wiring often happens, especially in the hot season. Many households, especially home-based trade establishments, have not yet complied with the safety rules in electricity use such as arbitrary hooking of electrical wires, item-loading wiring systems.

Also, many households share the same electricity meter, and poor quality power consumption equipment is prone to overload, collision, short-circuit, all leading to fire and explosion. In addition, at the power pole, there are many interlaced wires, causing unsafety in terms of fire prevention.

In addition to being equipped with portable fire fighting equipment, each house must have at least two escape routes; at the same time, do not leave flammable items and goods at the exits. However, these requirements are often neglected. Therefore, in recent years, fires in residential areas have still accounted for a very high rate, more than 60%.

Proficiently use on-site fire fighting equipment

According to the Da Nang Police Department of Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue, people need to actively grasp necessary skills on fire prevention and fighting; arrange goods and combustible materials in an orderly manner, at least 0.5m away from fire and heat sources.

At the same time, there should have no any iron cages and nets installed in the railings of high-rise buildings. In particular, on-site fire fighting tools and means such as portable fire extinguishers, means of breaking the roof, the lock and the door.

“In case there is no other way out, use a wet blanket, cover your body, and try to escape through the fire as quickly as possible. In case the exit and escape route is contaminated with smoke but cannot escape through the stairs to the main door, quickly use cloth towels or sticky tape to cover the door gap so that smoke and toxic gas cannot be spread. Enter the room you are in, move to the balcony, loudly call out for emergency help. Absolutely do not hide in the room, under the bed nor in the toilet", emphasized Senior Colonel Nguyen Thanh Nam, the Head of the Fire Prevention, Fighting and Rescue Police Division.

Reporting by LE HUNG - Translating by A.THU