According to statistics, Hanoi currently has about 9,483 roads, alleys, and alleys over 200m long that fire trucks cannot access, mainly concentrated in the inner city area. Many streets and alleys still have covered roofs, power grids, low-voltage cables, shops, and vehicles encroaching on sidewalks and roads, causing significant obstacles to fire fighting.
On October 11, a fire at No. 9, Alley 12, Alley 17 Alley 180, Kim Hoa Street (Van Mieu Ward, Dong Da District) killed 5 people in a family. The house is located deep in an alley, about 300m from the main road, making it difficult for the authorities to carry out fire fighting and rescue. Previously, a fire on De La Thanh Street also took a long time to approach the scene due to the narrow alley, many sections of which were only open to one person.
Not only is it difficult to access, many residential areas still lack water pillars, houses with closed pipes, and "tiger cages" installed, making escape almost impossible when an incident occurs. Many areas with high construction density, concentrated with many boarding houses and mini apartments, are at higher risk of fire and explosion.
To limit damage, localities are promoting the model of "P public fire fighting point" and "Fire prevention and fighting safety inter-family group". Each household is encouraged to equip fire extinguishers, hammers, and cages, open a second escape route and sign a commitment to ensure fire safety.
The People's Committee of Hoan Kiem Ward recently coordinated with the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department - Hanoi City Police to establish forces and vehicles to fight the fire at the Hoan Kiem Lake walking street and the night market street. According to Mr. Ngo Anh Toan - Head of the Economic, Infrastructure and Urban Affairs Department of Hoan Kiem Ward, the arrangement of standing forces helps shorten reaction time, improve fire fighting efficiency in the old quarter and border areas.
At the same time, the Hanoi Fire Prevention and Rescue Police force has applied many solutions suitable for the small alley terrain, such as homemade fire hoses dragging vehicles researched by the Fire Fighting Team of Area 16, helping to shorten the time to approach the fire. The City Police also put into operation an online Command Information Center connecting with units, allowing for faster reception and handling of fire prevention and fighting incidents, taking advantage of "golden time" in rescue.
According to Mr. Do Anh Tuan - Head of the Training and Training Department of the Vietnam Fire Prevention and Fighting Association, since 2016, many mini fire trucks imported from Japan have been imported from many sources, then improved to suit the urban terrain of Vietnam. This type of mini fire truck can operate flexibly in small alleys, carrying 1-2 water pumps, very useful for cramped residential areas. However, he emphasized that "no matter how modern the vehicle is, it needs a force that is well-trained and elite to operate effectively".
Mr. Tuan affirmed that only when solutions from propaganda, equipment of vehicles, opening escape routes to improving the capacity of grassroots forces, fire prevention and fighting in deep alleys and small alleys in Hanoi are synchronously implemented, will they be strengthened, contributing to minimizing damage caused by fires.
