Sharing others' accidents (fires) 4

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This post was last edited by fight3558586 on 2016-11-11 at 10:55. What started as a minor incident turned into a major disaster – Reflections on the \"1.30\" fire in Luoyang. Around 2 a.m. on January 30 of that year, a fire broke out at the Shensen Hotel in the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Luoyang, Henan Province. Although the area affected by the fire was only a little over 80 square meters, it resulted in 7 deaths and 12 injuries. On the afternoon of February 1, when reporters drove to the location of the fire in the Luoyang Economic and Technological Development Zone, the relevant authorities repeatedly emphasized that it was an accident, and that such serious consequences resulted from the negligence of those responsible and the ignorance of the victims. According to Deputy Director Zong of the development zone, the on-site rescue operations have been completed, and compensation as well as follow-up actions are being carried out at full speed. Deputy Director Zong told the reporters that this was entirely due to the young age and lack of knowledge of the security guard on duty that night, Liu Yongjie. At 2 a.m. on January 30, while on duty and sitting by the fire, he accidentally set his coat on fire. After using his foot to smother the flames on the coat, he failed to completely eliminate the fire. I casually draped my coat over the sofa and fell back into a drowsy sleep. After a pause, the hidden flame reignited the coat, and then spread to the sofa. In his panic, he ran to the square to look for water, but couldn’t find any. When he turned around and saw that the fire was too intense to control, he grabbed a rickshaw and fled. About 15 minutes later, he ran to Luoyang City and inadvertently revealed the news of the fire to the driver. The driver was a very responsible person; he stopped the vehicle immediately and called 119. Upon hearing the news, the fourth squad of the Luoyang Fire Brigade, based at Guanlin Wholesale Market, rushed to the scene to carry out rescue efforts. 　　 At the same time as security guard Liu Yongjie fled, there were 38 people on duty at the Shensen Hotel that night; they were in a state of panic and completely forgot how to protect themselves and escape. In a panic, 12 people jumped from the building in haste; two of them were seriously injured, one with a fractured skull and another with severe internal injuries. 　　 After the disaster struck, some people remained calm and took appropriate emergency measures, preventing the situation from worsening further. A hotel staff member tore the sheets into strips and tied them together; as they opened the window ready to escape, the fire trucks arrived just in time. The other person was the brother of the hotel manager; the entire family lived in the hotel. After the fire broke out, he and his family locked themselves in their room, called 119 to report the incident, and prepared to wet towels with water in order to cover their noses as a precaution. ““If the employees had not panicked and jumped from the building, if they had been able to call for help and knock on my door, then they wouldn’t have suffered such serious consequences or incurred such heavy losses!” The manager’s brother couldn’t help but feel regret and sorrow when talking about these things. 　　 At that time, the on-duty security guard, Liu Yongjie, could find water by simply going to the second floor; yet due to his panic and lack of knowledge, he went to the square in search of water for fighting the fire. It is understood that security guard Liu Yongjie had not received any training on fire safety knowledge prior to this; otherwise, such serious consequences would not have occurred. 　　 The hotel also does not provide its employees with training on fire safety knowledge or survival techniques in emergency situations, which causes them to panic when faced with crises, to act recklessly, and to unknowingly move closer to danger step by step. 　　 On the evening of February 1, the reporter mentioned that they intended to go to the scene of the incident and the hospital for interviews the next day, and requested to meet with the person responsible. The relevant district leaders did not give a clear statement, only saying to reassess the situation the next day. 　　 At 8:30 on February 2, the reporter asked to meet with the persons responsible for this matter. Deputy Director Zong said that they were all under the surveillance of the public security authorities; no one was allowed to meet with them, let alone journalists who wanted to conduct interviews. 　　 The reporter asked to see how the injured were being treated, but the officials from the development zone said they did not have such authority. After a fire broke out, aside from the city’s publicity department issuing statements to the media, reporters were not allowed to go directly to the hospital to interview the injured; any such interviews required approval from the city’s health department. When asked why interviews weren’t allowed, they said it would interfere with the patients’ treatment. They only agreed to let reporters go to the Shinmori Hotel where the fire broke out. 　　 With a burned area of just over 80 square meters, the losses from this fire would not have exceeded 2,000 yuan if it had been handled properly. However, due to mistakes, the hotel owner not only faced legal consequences but also lost everything he owned. But compared to those 7 lost lives, what do such losses even count for? It is understood that the Luoyang Economic and Technological Development Zone has not yet established any safety supervision agency; safety matters in the entire zone are handled by a commercial company. This is the deadliest accident since the fire at the Luoyang Dongdu Shopping Mall on December 25, 2000, which resulted in 309 deaths. 　　 Luoyang City has done solid work in fire safety management and achieved remarkable results. However, stopping at this and failing to make efforts to strengthen basic management work and improve the safety awareness of the public is far from sufficient. It’s most cost-effective to learn from others’ accidents as if they were one’s own*.