Fire safety should not be overlooked

Fire prevention was a hot topic at the Shanghai People's Congress (SPC) meeting Sunday, with nearly half of the 68 proposals submitted for discussions by SPC delegates on the second-last day of the city's Two Sessions fighting to update and improve existing local regulations.

Three proposals jointly submitted by 33 SPC delegates were dedicated to urging municipal government officials not to overlook the importance of amending the city's existing rules on fire safety and prevention. Such clauses were most recently revised in January of 2010, months ahead of taking effect in April - before Jing'an district's Jiaozhou Road fire on November 15, a tragedy that claimed the lives of 58 people and somberly reminded the city of the need for fire safety.

SPC delegate Sun Honglin, also director of Shanghai Shenfang Law Firm, argued Sunday that fire hazards are rampant at residential compounds, a problem that has been neglected since more attention has been paid to commercial buildings over the past year.

"Illegal parking at numerous residential parking lots blocks fire exits and could be a serious danger to people in the event of fire," he told the Global Times Sunday. "Moreover, many old fire hydrants at residential buildings haven't been checked in ages, or don't work, which could also be disastrous in emergency situations."

He attributed the problems to poor monitoring and supervision, a situation prompted by the unclear division of labor by numerous parties involved, including property management companies and neighborhood committees.

SPC delegate Ji Baohong, also the president of Shanghai Wangyuan Property Development Company, advised city officials to create a regulation that would force property developers to erect twin high-rises in the city to make such buildings safer in the case of fire.

"The highest fire truck ladder can only reach 100 meters high in the city," he told the Global Times Sunday. "But, Shanghai has more than 400 high-rises that scale beyond that height - if a fire breaks out above a height of 100 meters, it would be hard to put it out.

"Twin towers would be useful in that firefighters could climb up the unaffected building to put out a fire in the one adjacent to it," he added, but failed to say how the scenario would help in the event that fires at heights of more than a 100 meters were to break out at both towers.

Issues regarding affordable housing, the city's minimum wage and renovations to revive historic areas of the city were among the other proposals introduced by SPC delegates at this year's Two Sessions Sunday, by which some 585 recommendations had been filed over the past week, down roughly 20 percent from last year.