On the afternoon of July 24, at a regular press conference on the socio-economic situation of Ho Chi Minh City, a representative of Ho Chi Minh City Police informed about the results of reviewing and mobilizing people to dismantle iron cages - also known as "tiger cages" in apartment buildings and houses with many apartments to ensure fire prevention and fighting safety and rescue (PCCC and CNCH).
According to Ho Chi Minh City Police, from July 10 to now, the authorities have coordinated with the Department of Construction and People's Committees of localities to organize a general review, inspection, and continuous propaganda " day and night" for old apartment buildings, apartment buildings with many apartments with fire prevention and fighting violations.
As a result, the authorities have mobilized 65 projects (including old apartments, houses with many apartments) with a total of 1,064 apartments to dismantle the iron cages or open a second escape route through the "tiger cages".
However, there are still 79 works with 1,457 apartments that have not been demolished or opened a second escape route.
In the coming time, Ho Chi Minh City Police will continue to coordinate with functional agencies and local authorities to organize propaganda and inspect fire safety conditions in residential areas, especially focusing on households that still have "tiger cages" installed.
Households will be required to sign a commitment to remove or open a second escape as soon as possible. After the commitment period, the authorities will continue to inspect and urge until the repair is completed.
Notably, Ho Chi Minh City Police will also deploy local support forces to "go to every alley, knock on every door" to directly guide and support people in dismantling "tiger cages", especially during times when people are at home such as evenings and weekends (Saturday, Sunday).
Regarding the inspection and handling of fire prevention and fighting violations, Ho Chi Minh City Police said that after the merger with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, the whole city currently has 99,997 facilities such as boarding houses, multi-apartment houses, rented room apartments, houses combined with production and business with high risk of fire and explosion.
Through the review, there are 18,347 establishments that are violating fire prevention and fighting. Notably, up to now, there are still 344 facilities that have not completed the remediation of violations. Of which, 258 facilities are managed by the People's Committees at the commune level and 86 facilities are managed by the police.
To strictly handle violations, Ho Chi Minh City Police had previously advised the People's Committees of districts and towns (old) to issue decisions to temporarily suspend operations for facilities that did not ensure safety.
