A nation-wide anti-fire campaign has reduced the number of major fires and removed thousands of hidden perils in public places, said officials at a press conference Tuesday in Beijing, according to today's Chinadaily.
Co-organized by 11 ministries and commissions, including the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Education and State Economic and Trade Commission, the five-month campaign has produced great achievements, said vice-Construction Minister Zheng Yijun.
During May to October, a total of 35,961 investigative groups were dispatched to conduct spot checks on 9,400,000 enterprises nationwide, he said.
"The spot checking has helped eradicate millions of hidden perils," Zheng said. "For example, the nation has outlawed more than 10,000 illegal recreation centres and suspended another 250,000 operations that could not meet the demands of fire fighting."
"The campaign and anti-fire survey on public places will provide a basis for further supervision and a draft of new fire-fighting laws and regulations in the future," said Zheng.
From January to September, 158,744 fires have occurred, killing 1,655 people and injuring 2,805 others, with direct property damage amounting to 1.01 billion yuan (US$122 million), the vice-minister disclosed.
Meanwhile, the number of devastating fires, in which there are 10 deaths or more,has decreased.
As of November 5, there were 26 large fires, causing 57 deaths, 37 injuires and 50 million yuan (US$6.1 million) in direct property losses.
These figures declined by 49 percent, 74 percent, 79.9 percent and 67.7 percent respectively when compared with the same period last year, Zheng said.
China has always placed top priority on fire fighting and safeguarding the safety of public health and safety, said Yang Huanning, vice-minister of MPS.
On November 1996, President Jiang Zemin made an important address on fire fighting, calling for all-out prevention efforts, and since then an organized system of laws and regulations on fire fighting has taken shape.
China has built 586 fire stations and 210,000 water hydrants and purchased 3,800 fire-fighting vehicles over the last five years, Yang noted.
Nevertheless, many obstacles remain which impede the effort to battle fires, primarily due to loopholes in the anti-fire laws and the lagging development of the fire fighting industry, which has taken a backseat to other social and economic problems, according to Yang.
(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2001)
