National online conference on fire prevention and fighting

On the morning of September 12, in Hanoi, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a nationwide online conference on fire prevention and fighting and reviewed the 5-year implementation of Decree 83 dated July 18, 2017 of the Government regulating the rescue work of the fire prevention and fighting force.

Delegates at Lang Son connection point attended the conference

Attending the conference at Lang Son bridge were Mr. Ho Tien Thieu, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee; leaders of relevant departments and agencies.

According to the report, in 5 years (from 2017 to 2021), more than 17,000 fires occurred nationwide, killing 433 people, injuring 790 people, causing property damage of over 7,000 billion VND and more than 7,500 hectares of forest. The fire protection and rescue police forces have mobilized more than 235,000 officers and soldiers and over 30,400 vehicles to participate in the rescue operation, directly saving more than 6,700 people. The functional agencies have inspected the conditions to ensure the safety of fire prevention and fighting  and rescue for more than 2.6 million establishments, sanctioned over 49,000 cases of violations with a total fine of 520 billion VND; temporarily suspending more than 1,300 cases, suspending over 1,000 cases.

In the first 8 months of 2022, over 1,136 fires occurred nationwide, killing 57 people, injuring 52 people, causing property damage estimated at over 530 billion VND and 39 hectares of forest.

In Lang Son province, from August 2017 to May 2022, 120 cases of fire and explosion occurred in the province, killing 76 people, injuring 48 people, and causing property damage estimated at 3.4 billion VND. The provincial public security, the provincial Military Command have mobilized hundreds of specialized vehicles to participate in the rescue work, guided the escape and directly saved 71 people.

At the conference, representatives of ministries, sectors and localities focused on discussing, evaluating the results, specifying the causes, and proposing some solutions to do well the firefighting and rescue in the coming time such as strengthening propaganda to raise awareness for the people; strictly control and manage the licensing of construction of various types of houses, karaoke business establishments, dance halls; improving the operational efficiency of the civil defense force under the motto “Four on-the-spot”, improving the efficiency of inspection, examination and sanctioning of violations; strengthening the capacity of fire prevention and fighting workers and the responsibilities of relevant agencies, units and individuals…

Speaking at the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that firefighting and rescue is a very important task in the current context. He requested ministries, departments and sectors, especially the Ministry of Public Security and localities, to focus on investigating and clarifying the causes and responsibilities of organizations and individuals related to the fires occurring in the area and have appropriate forms of handling, sufficient deterrence.

Regarding solutions, he suggested that ministries, departments, branches and localities focus on effectively implementing the guiding documents of the Party and State; perfecting policies and laws; raising people’s awareness and supplementing knowledge and skills on fire prevention and fighting; tightening discipline, strengthening planning and state management of firefighting and rescue; consolidating the force doing fire prevention and fighting work at grassroots and residential areas; completing the task of planning the fire prevention and fighting infrastructure in the period of 2021-2030 with a vision to 2050; consolidating the organizational apparatus, building up a regular, elite, modern, and expert firefighting and rescue police force with expertise, techniques and tactics of rescue; expanding international cooperation, enhancing information exchange, sharing experiences, applying advanced techniques and technologies, improving efficiency, creating substantive changes in firefighting and rescue work nationwide.