Premier Sean Chen said in today's Executive Yuan Council meeting that the residential fires in Xinpu Township, Hsinchu County and in Yongkang District, Tainan City on January 15 and 16, respectively, which led to the untimely deaths of three people, were deeply saddening, and measures must be taken to increase fire safety in narrow urban streets.
Most especially, making residential areas safer should be a particular goal of urban renewal efforts, he said. He urged the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and local governments to take fire safety into careful consideration when implementing policy.
The contribution firemen make in protecting lives and property deserves affirmation, the premier stated. "The purpose of their work is to put out fires and save lives, and reviews should be made to assure that their efforts are effective as possible. If there are questions about these cases, they should be addressed; otherwise, the departments should explain their actions. For example, if factual and technical considerations were involved, such as the narrowness of a lane making it impossible to bring in a rescue cushion, this should be clarified to the public to decrease unrest."
According to the Financial Supervisory Commission's fire insurance information, fire damages are declining year by year, and MOI statistics indicate that the number of fire accidents in Taiwan has declined steadily and precipitously, from 18,254 in 1999 to 1,772 in 2011 and to under 1,600 last year. This shows the effectiveness of the advocacy efforts of fire departments and the improvement of fire safety and building codes, Chen said. In light of this week's events, however, he asked the MOI and local governments to comprehensively review standard disaster rescue procedures and equipment.
The difficulty that alleys' narrowness poses for rescue efforts is becoming more and more important, Chen said. He asked the National Fire Agency to coordinate with local governments in incorporating this issue and applicable solutions into its elementary and advanced training curriculum.
Besides case reporting, data collection is also very important to disaster rescue centers so that the resources appropriate to each community's present circumstances can be allocated, added the premier, and he asked relevant agencies to step up their efforts in this regard.