Many parking lots in Ho Chi Minh City – which often house hundreds of motorbikes – are not equipped with proper firefighting tools, thus running a huge risk of fire, a Tuoi Tre newspaper survey has found.

>> Fire burns down 300 bikes in parking lot

At 9:00 am on Wednesday, in the scorching heat, Tuoi Tre reporters noticed many people smoking cigarettes when they entered or left a parking lot filled with hundreds of motorbikes in front of Hoang Hoa Tham Market in Tan Binh District.

A staff member of the parking lot was also smoking while he helped customers get their vehicles out of the crowded area. When asked by Tuoi Tre if the owner of the parking lot banned smoking, the man smiled and shook his head. He then threw his burning cigarette to the ground and stamped it out.   At noon that day, Tuoi Tre reporters came to the two-story parking lot at the Zoological and Botanical Garden in District 1 and found it was not equipped with a fire extinguishing system. When Tuoi Tre asked an employee there about their fire prevention methods, the employee pointed to a portable fire extinguisher in a corner of the parking lot.  There were many cars parked in the basement of the parking lot, surrounded by hundreds of motorbikes. Similarly, after seeing no fire extinguishers on standby at a parking lot in front of Tan Binh Market, Tuoi Tre reporters asked the manager where they were, after which she brought out two portable fire extinguishers which had been hidden in a corner. She admitted that the parking lot had only two fire extinguishers and in case of fire, firefighters who worked at the market would come to help. The same situation was seen in many other parking lots, including two large facilities at Maximark supermarket in Tan Binh District. The manager of the lots said there were four fire extinguishers available.Fire safety standards not available Senior Lieutenant Colonel Mai Cong Duong, deputy head of the Legislation, Investigation, and Fire and Explosion Handling Division of the HCMC Fire Prevention and Control Department, told Tuoi Tre on Wednesday that fire prevention standards in motorbike parking lots have yet to be stipulated. Therefore, those parking lots without or lacking means of extinguishing fires face a high risk of fire, especially in the dry and hot weather, Duong said. Parking lots that have small portable fire extinguishers will fail to cope with large fires effectively, the official warned. Duong cited the large fire that burned down nearly 300 motorbikes and one car at a parking lot in the city’s District 8 on the afternoon of April 5 as an example.  The lot’s staff and local residents attempted to put out the fire using water and mini fire extinguishers, but they failed to do so. Seven fire engines and about 40 firefighters were sent to the scene and they stamped out the fire one hour later, he added. No lives were lost in the accident. During the first quarter of this year, 94 fires occurred across the city – 24 less than in the last quarter of 2013 – leaving three people dead and three others injured, the department reported at a press conference held the same day.

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