The draft Law on Fire Prevention, Fighting, and Rescue will be considered and approved by the National Assembly at the 8th session (October 2024). Notably, the draft has added separate regulations on conditions for ensuring fire prevention and fighting safety (PCCC) for facilities, houses, individual houses, especially houses combined with production and business, accommodation houses, high-rise buildings, apartment buildings, and large urban centers.
Regarding fire prevention for housing, Article 18 of the draft law stipulates that housing must ensure fire safety conditions.
Accordingly, the installation and use of electrical wires and electrical equipment in the home must ensure electrical safety requirements according to the provisions of law; regularly check, promptly repair and replace electrical wires and equipment that do not ensure fire safety.
In case of using electric vehicle charging equipment, the charging equipment must ensure national technical standards; the electric vehicle charging area must have a solution to prevent fire spread to ensure fire safety.
At the same time, arrange cooking stoves, places of worship, and places for burning votive paper to ensure safety; keep flammable and explosive objects and substances away from fire and heat sources.
Housing must ensure fire fighting and escape conditions such as having fire fighting equipment suitable to the capacity and actual conditions to be ready for fire fighting and escape; arranging and maintaining paths to ensure escape or escape routes, emergency exits.
For housing types with technical regulations and standards cited in technical regulations and legal documents, implementation shall comply with the provisions of those technical regulations and standards.
For types of housing in the list of facilities subject to fire prevention and fighting management, the provisions of Article 21 of this Law (fire prevention for facilities) shall apply.
The State encourages households to install devices with fire alarm functions and connect them to the fire alarm communication system.
Regarding fire prevention for houses combined with business, houses combined with business must ensure fire safety conditions according to the above regulations and ensure the following conditions:
There must be prohibition signs, warning signs, and signs indicating fire prevention, rescue, and first aid; business areas at risk of fire and explosion must be separated from residential areas.
Housing combined with business of flammable and explosive goods must ensure prescribed fire safety conditions and ensure conditions such as not arranging sleeping rooms in the business area.
At the same time, there must be fire alarms, ventilation solutions, and equipment to detect flammable and toxic gas leaks according to regulations; the escape route of the residential area must be prevented from spreading to the business area.
Delegate Duong Khac Mai (Dak Nong Delegation) expressed his agreement with the above regulation, because in reality, in some recent fires, there was no separation between the business area and the residential area, so when a fire broke out, it caused serious consequences.
Referring to the complicated situation of fires and explosions in urban areas and crowded places, the delegate emphasized the need to soon complete the draft law to ensure that the laws when put into practice are easy to apply, strict, and have a deterrent effect on business owners of construction works.
