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On December 16, 1997, a massive fire broke out at Jinyun Motorcycle City in Lusong District, Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province. At 11:30 p.m. on that day, a severe fire accident occurred at Jinyun Motorcycle City in Lusong District of Zhuzhou City in our province. The fire destroyed 57 stalls and shops, 488 motorcycles of various types, as well as a number of motorcycle parts. As a result, more than 200 residents from 95 households were affected. One man died after jumping from a building while trying to escape the dangerous area; one resident suffered smoke poisoning, and 9 firefighters were injured while fighting the fire. The direct economic loss caused by the fire amounted to over 7.656 million yuan. During the construction process, the construction and contracting units failed to follow the approval requirements issued by the city’s fire department in July 1996; they arbitrarily removed, reduced, or altered the fire protection facilities. Specifically, they eliminated fire ponds, indoor fire hydrant pumps, rooftop fire water tanks, outdoor fire hydrants located on the street side (1 unit), as well as the pump connectors for indoor fire hydrants in each unit on floors 4 to 7 and for the indoor fire hydrant systems ； Secondly, on the negative first and second floors, a total of 10 indoor fire hydrants have been removed; there are no fire shutters in the open stairwells between the first and second floors, and none of the stairwell entrances are equipped with fire doors ； Third, emergency lighting and evacuation signs are not provided at the public exits, and leakage current alarm devices are not installed at the distribution panels on each floor nor at the main wiring for each unit. The only remaining outdoor fire hydrant under the north-side overpass also fails to meet the specified requirements in terms of water pressure and flow rate. After the main construction of Motorcycle City was completed, it began operations for sales of commercial and residential units without first obtaining approval from the city’s fire department or applying for a review of the interior decoration design. Upon learning that Motorcycle City had begun operating officially, the city’s fire department took no action to urge it to undergo fire safety inspections and address any existing safety issues ； The original suburban area **knew that the relevant authorities had indicated at the preparation meetings for the opening ceremony that the Motorcycle City had not passed fire safety inspections, yet it rushed to approve its opening without urging such inspections to be carried out. After Jinyun Motorcycle City was put into operation, safety management was in disarray, with neither a person responsible for fire safety nor any fire safety protocols in place. At the end of September 1997, the building stopped having night shifts; the hoses and nozzles in the indoor fire extinguisher cabinets were stored in a warehouse, and gate valves were installed in front of the outdoor fire extinguishers located in the agricultural market on the basement floor. Some shops connected electrical circuits illegally, using high-power electric heaters, kettles, rice cookers and other electrical appliances. Unapproved activities such as the storage of flammable and explosive items like bottled paint and engine oil were also carried out, resulting in numerous fire hazards throughout the building. Based on on-site inspections, investigations, relevant technical assessments, and the findings of experts from the Fire Accident Investigation Expert Group of the Ministry of Public Security, it was determined that Liang Hongyu and Su Yueqiu, who owned shop 59#-2 in Motorcycle City, failed to turn off the power to the electric heaters in the shop when they left. The heater being left on for an extended period of time caused the resistance wire inside its quartz glass tube to overheat due to electrical faults, which in turn led to the ignition of the flammable plastic base and surrounding combustible materials, resulting in a fire disaster. This was the direct cause of the \"12·16\" fire accident. The chaotic fire management within Motorcycle City, the absence of fire safety protocols, the cancellation of night shifts, the shutdown of indoor fire hydrants, the storage of fire hoses and nozzles in warehouses, the installation of control valves on the fire hydrants in the market on the first basement floor along with the reduction of the diameter of the water outlet pipes, and the illegal storage of flammable and explosive substances such as paint by individual vendors were all direct causes of the increased losses resulting from this accident. Jinyun Industrial Co., Ltd. and Jinyun Real Estate Development Company seriously violated national fire safety laws and regulations while constructing the Motorcycle City. They altered the approved design plans without authorization, failed to install fire doors in the stairwells and fire curtains around the open stairs, changed the design requirements on their own, removed fire protection facilities such as fire ponds, fire pumps, pump connectors, and rooftop fire tanks, reduced the number of indoor fire hydrants and the diameter of the fire water supply pipes. Moreover, they did not apply to the fire department for inspection before putting the facility into use – these actions were the main causes of this severe fire disaster. The failure to implement the responsibility system for fire safety inspections, as well as inadequate inspections, were key reasons behind this accident. Although the Zhuzhou Public Security Fire Brigade urged the completion of the necessary construction approval procedures on several occasions during the early stages of the project and issued a \"Building Fire Protection Design Review Opinion,\" it took no further enforcement actions to compel rectification of the safety issues after the facility opened without authorization ； Before and after the adjustment of Zhuzhou’s urban administrative divisions, the fire brigade in the suburban area where the Motorcycle City is located, as well as the fire brigade in Lusong District, failed to register it under fire safety regulations or carry out inspections on it, which led to the accumulation of risks that eventually caused problems. In the former suburbs, **regarding the Motorcycle City, which is one of the 10 key construction projects in the entire region, no attention was paid to fire safety inspections and supervision during its construction, completion, and operation. As a result, fire protection facilities were arbitrarily removed, altered, or reduced during construction; the facility began operating before passing fire safety inspections, and fire safety management became uncontrolled once it was officially put into use ； After the adjustment of the urban district boundaries, fire safety measures in Lusong District remained inadequate. Following the city’s winter prevention meeting on November 4, 1997, the decisions made at that meeting were not properly implemented; the Motorcycle City was not informed to attend the district’s winter prevention meeting. For nearly 4 months after the district boundaries were adjusted, no one paid attention to the fire safety issues in the Motorcycle City, resulting in a situation where fire safety control there was lost. Furthermore, Jinyun Motorcycle City is located in the suburban area, and Zhuzhou’s urban fire protection facilities are relatively underdeveloped. The distribution of public fire hydrants throughout the city does not meet the requirements set by national standards; Zhuzhou should have 538 fire hydrants, but only 195 have been installed, leaving 343 still missing. There are also gaps in the management of existing fire-fighting facilities: there are no fire hydrants along the street facing Motorcycle City, the municipal fire hydrant located 120 meters to the east is damaged and cannot supply water, and the fire hydrant 350 meters to the west is too far away, resulting in insufficient water for firefighting and affecting the efficiency of extinguishing fires. On December 16, 1985, a massive fire broke out at the Ziwēi Hotel in Shijingshan District, Beijing. Opposite the People’s ** Building in Shijingshan District stood a tall building – the Ziwēi Hotel, a high-end tourist hotel jointly funded by Chinese and foreign parties. Although it was not yet completed, it had already gained fame throughout the city. The workers who undertook this project came from a construction company in Jiexi County, Shantou, Guangdong. This construction team has 161 members. On December 16, 1985, the equipment floor on the 11th floor of the building was completed. A few more shifts and the main project will be completed. The team has booked train tickets to leave Beijing on the 20th. Everyone is about to return to their hometowns to spend the New Year with their loved ones. But to everyone’s utter surprise, a merciless fire completely disrupted people’s daily lives and shattered the workers’ hearts... At 6 p.m. on the 16th, the construction team left 8 workers to work through the night, tasked with running wires and conduit from the 12th floor down to the 11th floor. Worker Pan was operating an electric welding machine to pass wires on the 11th floor. At 11:10 p.m., it was discovered that the insulation straw curtain around the welding machine on the 11th floor had caught fire. Everyone rushed to put out the fire; one worker picked up a fire extinguisher, but no foam came out of it – the extinguisher had already frozen and been damaged! Pick up another one and it’s the same! The helpless workers used whatever was available to smother the flames. But due to the high building and strong winds, the fire gained momentum as it spread, growing larger and larger. A worker rushed downstairs to cut off the power, but by the time he tried to go back up, the fire had blocked the stairs. Wooden scaffolding was erected all around the building, like piles of kindling, making the entire structure resemble a giant matchbox burning in the night sky. Amidst the sound of sirens, dozens of fire trucks rushed in from all directions; two ladder trucks were raised high into the air, as firefighters worked hard to put out the fire and rescue people. But only Lin, who had fallen from the scaffolding and been seriously injured, was found; the other worker hanging on the scaffolding had already stopped breathing by the time he was rescued. The direct economic loss caused by this fire was over 170,000 yuan. The public security fire department conducted an investigation at the scene of the fire and determined that it was caused by the fact that the welding machine used by the team did not have a power connector; the wire connecting the welding torch to the machine rubbed against the metal casing of the machine, causing the insulation layer to be damaged and resulting in a short circuit that generated sparks, which in turn ignited the insulating straw. Deputy captain Lin took charge of the entire team while the captain was on leave. Although fire prevention measures were outlined in meetings, the actual actions taken were inadequate. In cases such as welding operations carried out on the day of a fire, there is no one assigned to monitor the fire ； Although there were fire extinguishers at the construction site, they all became frozen due to improper storage and could not be used when a fire broke out ； The welding machine doesn’t have a wiring plate; during use, the wire is pulled back and forth and rubs against the metal casing, and this potential hazard has yet to be resolved ； Pan is a carpenter himself and does not possess a welding certificate, so he is operating without the required license. On December 16, 1920, a severe earthquake struck Haiyuan in Ningxia, claiming the lives of 230,000 people. That night, a violent earthquake suddenly hit the Haiyuan area of Ningxia; people were just waking from their sleep when they were buried under the collapsed buildings. The earth is shaking, the sky is overcast; there are continuous thunderclaps and winds, and lights flash in the sky. Wild animals gather in the wilderness, wailing incessantly. This major earthquake reached 8.5 on the scale. A vast area within 300 miles was affected. It can be felt in over 60 counties and districts, from west of Jingzhou to Huining, and from south of Haiyuan to Qinzhou. During the day, aftershocks continued, the north wind howled, dust filled the air, 4 cities were reduced to ruins, and no human voices could be heard. The death toll from this major earthquake has reached as high as 230,000. Due to the vast area, there was almost no rescue effort, resulting in over 500,000 deaths and injuries. At 20:06:09 on December 16, 1920, a magnitude 8.5 earthquake struck Haiyuan in Ningxia! According to subsequent investigations by seismologists, the extent of damage caused by this earthquake was even greater than the 8.5 magnitude initially estimated; the macroseismic intensity in the Haiyuan Gan Salt Lake area, where the damage was most severe, reached 12 degrees. Moreover, the aftershocks persisted for as long as 3 years……