Numerous villas and high-rise apartment buildings in Ho Chi Minh City have been found in violation of compulsory fire safety regulations, a high-ranking official has said.
Senior Colonel Tran Thanh Chau, deputy director of the HCMC Police Department of Fire Prevention and Fighting, made the announcement on April 1.
Mr. Chau said his department had recently inspected several deluxe and newly built city apartment blocks and found that many were in violation of fire codes.
The new An Khanh apartment building in District 2, for instance, was built without an automatic fire alarm system.
The modern Manor apartment building in Binh Thanh District was also found not to have a working alarm system at the time of inspection.
Bui Van Hieu, chief of the Department of House Management under the Department of Construction, said city agencies will begin classifying villas and apartment blocks in the city to further inspect their fire safety compliance in the future.
More apartments will be investigated in April and May while villas will be inspected in July.
Under the direction of the city’s People’s Committee, the departments of construction; fire prevention and fighting; planning and investment; and the director of the Department of Planning and Architecture will carry out the inspections and impose penalties on violators.
District people’s committees will also fine residents who have converted their private apartments into offices or small-scale factories.
The aim of the inspections, said Do Phi Hung, deputy head of the Department of Construction, is to help State agencies record statistics on the status of city villa and apartment blocks’ compliance with fire safety regulations.
The measures are also hoped to preserve HCMC’s ancient villas from the risk of fire. The Department of Planning and Architecture, meanwhile, will chart out an urban strategy for the city as related to fire codes.
