Pay attention to fire prevention in Industrial Zones

​According to the Provincial Public Security, in the last 2 years, the number of fires in Industrial Zones across the province has been continuously reduced. Specifically, in 2020, there were 19 fires in Industrial Zones (down 11 cases compared to 2019). In the first 6 months of 2021, the whole province had 1 fire in the Industrial Zone, down 3 fires compared to the same period in 2020.

Rehearsal of fire fighting and rescue plans at provincial level with the participation of many forces at Nhat Go Company Limited (Giang Dien Industrial Zone, Trang Bom District).

The number of fires has been decreasing

Senior Colonel Nguyen Van Hai, Head of the Fire and Rescue Police Department, under Provincial Public Security, said that in order to obtain the above results, in the past time, the unit has worked with the local Public Security to actively control the situation, regularly inspect of fire safety for companies in the Industrial Zones. In particular, focus on key facilities with high risk of fire and explosion to promptly guide these companies to overcome the shortcomings and carry out self-inspection of fire prevention and fighting work at the company.

From the beginning of 2021 to June 15, there were 19 fires in the whole province, injuring 1 person, causing property damage of more than VND248 million (increasing 11 cases, reducing 3 deaths, increasing 1 person being injured, and financially damage due to fire decreased by VND1.23 billion compared to the same period in 2020). From the beginning of 2021, the whole province has only had 1 fire in the Industrial Zone, down 3 fires compared to the same period in 2020. Particularly the fire at Airang Chemical Co., Ltd. on June 28 is recorded in the second half of the year 2021.

Specifically, through the basic investigation in Industrial Zones in the province, there are currently 1,585 companies under the state management of fire prevention and fighting (1,009 companies under the Fire and Rescue Police Department, and the other are managed by local Public Security). From December 15, 2020 to June 9, 2021, the functional forces inspected 762 companies, made 26 records of administrative violations and issued decisions to sanction administrative violations for 26 cases with a total amount of nearly VND212 million.

According to Dong Nai Industrial Zones Authority, at present, Industrial Zone Infrastructure Companies are very interested in fire prevention and fighting, investing in infrastructure, installing and maintaining fire hydrants in the Industrial Zones. In industrial Zones, enterprises have established 36 teams specialized in fire prevention and fighting with 716 members, some companies have even invested in equipping fire fighting vehicles according to regulations. As a result, the initial fire-fighting work of the on-site firefighting force was effective, many fire cases were extinguished right away when they happened, minimizing the big fires accident.

In addition, the movement “All people participating in fire prevention and fighting” has been promoted. In 2020, there were 194 companies in the Industrial Zone that won the prizes of typical advanced in building the movement of “All people participating in fire prevention and fighting”; In 2021, there are 243 units and companies registering for the prize of typical advanced units in the movement “All people participating in fire prevention and fighting”. Through the establishments of the typical fire-fighting teams, the companies have improved the teams’ capacity, skills and ability to handle fire and explosion incidents of on-site forces under the motto "4 on the spot" (on-site commanders, on-site forces, on-site vehicles, on-site logistics).

Many hidden dangers

Although the number of fires and damage caused by fires in the Industrial Zones tends to decrease, each fire at company in the Industrial Zones always causes great consequences, affecting both businesses and employees. Typically, a fire at the factory of Dong Nai Battery Factory 2 (Nhon Trach Textile and Garment Industrial Zone) at dawn on July 14, 2019 caused more than VND2.38 billion in damage due to an electrical problem. Or the fire at Tan Phat Tai Co., Ltd.'s Leather Shoe Waste Disposal Factory (Thanh Phu Industrial Cluster, Vinh Cuu District) late at night on July 22, 2020 with a fire area of ​​more than 400m2, destroying many products of the plant is also caused by an electrical problem.

According to the Department of Fire and Rescue under the Provincial Public Security, most of the fires in the Industrial Zones are caused by electrical problems or technical problems. Specifically, among 6 fires in the Industrial Zones in 2019, 3 were caused by electrical problems, 1 was due to technical problems; among 4 fire cases in 2020, there are 3 cases due to electrical problems and 1 case due to technical problems.

Captain Nguyen Ba Giap, Team Leader of Fire Prevention and Fighting, Public Security Department of Fire Prevention and Rescue, said that the companies in the Industrial Zones often have large factory areas (from several thousand to tens of thousands of square meters). Those companies operating in industries that use combustible materials (garment, textiles, chemicals, wood processing for export, liquefied petroleum gas, paper, etc). Therefore, the facilities in the Industrial Zones always have high potential for fire and explosion.  Once a fire occurs, it will cause great damage to people and property, affecting the security and order situation and the investment environment in the Industrial Zones.

In addition to the common causes of fire, explosion, and common escape obstacles, according to Captain Nguyen Ba Giap, from the beginning of 2020, due to the influence of the Covid-19 epidemic, most companies have encountered difficulties in production and business, so the investment of for fire prevention and fighting has been cut down. This leads to the fact that the maintenance, additional fire- fighting equipment were delayed. In addition, the failure to export goods causes a large backlog of goods, leading to an unsafe arrangement or obstruction of escape routes and roads for fire engines, increasing the risk of fire and explosion.

According to Bien Hoa City Public Security, a number of businesses in the Industrial Zones after a period of suspension due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, when re-operated, the electrical system, electrical machinery and equipment were not fully checked, and have maintained. This should easily arise electrical problems. Before going into operation, the machinery and equipment were not checked, replaced with the amount of lubricating oil, affecting the cooling and lubricating process when operating machinery, easily generating a source of heat that causes fire when operating in a long time with the high productivity.

According to the Department of Fire and Rescue under the Provincial Public Security, one of the causes of large fires and fires in the Industrial Zones is because companies themselves expand and renovate the working areas. Specifically, the change of use function, expansion of roofs and connecting roofs, but the design of additional fire prevention and fighting system has not been approved as prescribed. In addition, those companies have no solutions to prevent fire, prevent fire spread, and exceed the safe area of​ fire of factories and warehouses, so when a fire occurs, it is easy to cause fire spread and large fires between factories.

Truc Vien