On the afternoon of April 12, at a press conference held by the Ministry of Emergency Management, Sun Yijun, the first-level commander of the Fire Supervision Department of the National Fire and Rescue Administration, said that this year's fire safety concentrated on the rectification action, and listed insufficient safety evacuation conditions, illegal anti-theft windows and billboards as the focus of rectification.
01 Insufficient conditions for safe evacuation
Safety exits, evacuation stairs
It's all around us
When a fire breaks out
It is the hope of escape for those trapped
It is the last line of defense to protect life
The evacuation passage is a passage in the building that has sufficient fire and smoke prevention capacity and mainly meets the requirements for the safe evacuation of personnel, usually refers to the passage from the room to the room door, from the room door to the evacuation staircase, and to the outdoor safe area during the evacuation. Common evacuation routes include evacuation walkways, evacuation stairs, safety exits, etc.
Judging from the fatal fire accidents that have occurred all over the country in recent years, the untimely evacuation and escape of the fire site is a key factor causing casualties, and the main reason is that the evacuation path of the building itself is insufficient, there are not enough evacuation channels and safety exits, or the "life passage" is occupied, blocked and closed.
Related Cases
01
On June 19, 2023, a fire broke out in a private house in Haicheng District, Beihai, Guangxi, killing 2 people, injuring 4 people, and causing a direct economic loss of 232581 yuan. After investigation, it was determined that one of the main reasons for the casualties was that the private house was built in violation of regulations, the roof platform was closed without authorization, and anti-theft net windows were installed, resulting in the closure of the escape passage on the roof and the window, the escape of personnel was blocked, and the fire and smoke prevention separation was not in place.
02
On December 1, 2022, a fire broke out in a high-rise residential building in Weiyang District, Xi'an, Shaanxi, and sundries in the hall, corridor, and stairwell on the first floor caught fire. At the time of the incident, the evacuation channel was blocked due to the stacking of debris, resulting in poor escape, firefighters rescued 8 trapped people, of which 5 died and 3 were injured.
03
On June 25, 2021, a major fire accident occurred in Zhenxing Wuguan, Zhecheng County, Beijie Village, Yuanxiang Town, Zhecheng County, Henan Province, killing 18 people and injuring 11 others. One of the main causes of casualties is that the escape routes do not meet the requirements. There was only one open staircase between the first and second floors of the Zhenxing Martial Arts Hall, and after the fire, the stairwell was quickly filled with high temperature and toxic smoke, and it was difficult for the students living on the second floor to escape through the stairs. The four exterior windows of the student dormitory on the west side of the second floor are all equipped with anti-theft nets, and students cannot escape through the external windows on the west side.
Provisions
According to the relevant building fire protection design standards, nurseries, kindergartens, medical buildings, elderly care facilities, children's activity venues, singing, dancing, entertainment, screening and amusement venues, as well as crowded places with an above-ground construction area of more than 200 square meters and an underground construction area of more than 50 square meters, shall be provided with two safety exits and evacuation stairs. In other crowded places, one safety exit or evacuation staircase can be set up, but the building should be ensured to have at least two evacuation and escape paths through external windows and escape aids. At the same time, evacuation indication signs that meet the requirements of technical standards should also be installed in crowded places, and units should carry out regular inspections and inspections to ensure that evacuation indication signs are intact and effective.
According to Article 28 of the Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, no unit or individual shall occupy, block, or close evacuation channels, safety exits, or fire truck passages.
02 Set up anti-theft windows in violation of regulations
Security windows, iron fences, billboards
It has become commonplace in life
But if it's not set properly
It is likely to block the escape route in an emergency
Especially in crowded places such as hotels, restaurants, boarding primary and secondary schools
In the event of an accident
It is likely to cause mass deaths and injuries
It's regrettable
Related Cases
01
On the afternoon of January 24, 2024, a fire broke out in a shop on a street in Yushui District, Xinyu City, Jiangxi Province, killing 39 people and injuring 9 others. According to the reporter's report, the accident occurred in the street store, the fire accident in the place of narrow passages, complex internal layout, and prominent safety hazards. The first floor of the building that caught fire was a townhouse, and the second floor was opened up for a hotel room and a training place, and there were only two entrances and exits in the townhouses about 100 meters long. The staircase leading to the second floor is narrow enough to accommodate only two people, making it easy to get congested in the event of a fire. On the second floor of the accident site, there is a latch in the burglar-proof window, which is difficult to find in an emergency situation where the fire smoke is thick.
02
On the evening of January 19, 2024, a fire broke out in a dormitory of Yingcai School in Yanshanpu Village, Dushu Town, Chengxian County, Henan Province, killing 13 people and injuring 4 others. The exterior windows are fully equipped with anti-theft windows, and only a small area of escape openings has been opened, which does not have the conditions to be used as an emergency escape channel, and cannot be rescued through the windows. In the end, 13 of the 14 people living in the dormitory were killed and 1 was injured.
03
At about 20:37 on June 21, 2023, a particularly serious gas explosion occurred at Fuyang Barbecue Restaurant in Xingqing District, Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, killing 31 people and injuring 7 others.
The accident investigation report pointed out that after the gas leakage explosion and fire, due to the lack of evacuation, the partition wall where the only staircase passage was blown up was seriously blocked, and the windows facing the street on the second floor were blocked and completely blocked by anchored and welded steel billboards, the escape of personnel was seriously affected, resulting in the expansion of casualties.
Provisions
According to Article 28 of the Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, the doors and windows of densely populated places shall not be set up with obstacles that affect escape and fire fighting and rescue.
According to Article 60 of the Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, if a unit violates the provisions of this law by setting up obstacles on doors and windows that affect escape and fire fighting and rescue in crowded places, it shall be ordered to make corrections and shall be fined not less than 5,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan.
These fires
All of them exposed obstacles such as anti-theft nets and billboards
Problems that affect the safe escape of personnel and fire extinguishing and rescue
How long does it take to sawn off a burglar window railing
Hollow stainless steel round tube anti-theft window
Sawing time: 1 minute and 10 seconds
Galvanized iron square tube anti-theft window
Sawing time: 52 seconds
Old-fashioned pure steel security windows
Sawing time: 1 minute and 16 seconds
Colored plastic steel anti-theft windows
Sawing time: 21 seconds
The danger of a billboard fire
Blocking escape routes
In the event of a fire, evacuees on floors 1 to 3 can evacuate through windows with the help of safety ropes and other items. But if the billboard blocks the lower windows, it is equivalent to blocking the escape route.
Affect fire fighting and rescue
The huge billboard on the exterior wall of the building damaged the fire fighting surface and blocked the fire extinguishing water from entering the fire part of the building. On the other hand, firefighters cannot quickly enter the room to extinguish fires and rescue through ascending facilities.
It is difficult to exhaust smoke and dissipate heat
After the billboard blocks and blocks the windows, the smoke and poisonous gas cannot be discharged in time when a fire breaks out inside the building, which is easy to cause the escape personnel to die of suffocation due to high temperature, lack of oxygen, and poisoning.
Weaken fire partitions
The width and length of the billboard on the exterior wall of the building can reach tens of meters, spanning several floors longitudinally, destroying the fireproof partition of the exterior wall of the building. Once a certain part of the billboard catches fire, it will burn the "card" and form a three-dimensional combustion.
Units in densely populated places, if the houses do not meet the two evacuation paths, shall organize renovation and construction in accordance with the standards as soon as possible, and strictly abide by various safety management regulations during the construction process to strictly prevent secondary disasters. All units should determine the responsible person to carry out unified management of the shared evacuation channels and safety exits, establish systems for inspection and inspection, cleaning and control, publicity and education, and promptly discover, dissuade, and stop illegal acts of occupying, blocking, and closing evacuation channels and safe exits, and resolutely remove anti-theft nets, iron fences, billboards and other obstacles that affect escape and fire rescue.
(Source: Beijing Fire Department)