Lunar New Year holidays are around the corner and an enormous number of people will crowd into many public places. To reduce the risk of disasters, Ministry of the Interior already requested nationwide fire bureaus to check the fire safety in public places and reminded all citizens to pay attention to home fire safety in order to have a peaceful and joyful Lunar New Year.
Ministry of the Interior expresses that department stores’ year-end sale; hypermarkets’ Lunar New Year promotions; and schools’ winter vacation all happen to occur prior to the Lunar New Year. To protect the safety of all people, National Fire Agency (NFA), Ministry of the Interior therefore cooperated with fire bureaus to check the fire safety of places visited by a great number of people (ex. hotels, amusement parks, department stores and hypermarkets) in two stages between November 1, 2020 and February 9, 2020.
According to the first-stage fire safety check-up results of all fire bureaus, NFA conducted 15,436 inspections as of December 22 of last year, where 1,328 thereof failed to pass the standard with a failure rate of 8.6%. NFA currently precedes the second-stage check-up process.
Ministry of the Interior indicates that, with respect to venues failed to pass the fire safety equipment check-up, all county and city fire bureaus will continue to track and recheck their status until improvements are made. In the meantime, Ministry of the Interior also appeals to persons in charge of the said venues to properly maintain the functions of all equipment and ensure clear evacuation routes to maintain the safety of venue.
Besides, concerning home fire safety, Ministry of the Interior mentions that about 110 home fire incidents occurred nationwide during the Lunar New Year last year. As the causes thereof were mostly related to kitchen fire, the Ministry therefore reminds all nationals not to forget the safety principle of “turning off the fire when leaving the kitchen” when returning home for reunion. Besides, it is also important to keep indoor ventilated when using gas water heater to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning; and to minimize the use of firecrackers or, if the use thereof is deemed necessary, choose those with a certification label. In case of finding any illegal firecrackers, all nationals shall also take the initiative to report it to related agencies.
Ministry of the Interior emphasizes that, to ensure all nationals have a peaceful and joyful Lunar New Year; nationwide 16,220 firefighters will be on 24-hour standby in shifts during the Lunar New Year holidays. NFA will also continue to collaborate with Office of Disaster Management, Executive Yuan; and National Rescue Command center to have 20 people been on duty 24 hours a day in order to immediately respond to any disaster and conduct rescue mission to guard the life, property and safety of all nationals.