Karaoke fire spurs safety inspections

The recent blaze at a Hanoi karaoke bar has renewed calls for tougher fire regulations - Photo: Le Quynh

One week has have passed since a blaze claimed the lives of 13 at a karaoke bar in Hanoi’s Cau Giay district on November 1, but survivor Do Quoc Toan still has not recovered.

His group of six saw black smoke leaking through the door, just after they settled into an upstairs karaoke room. They tore down the stairs to escape from the collapsing building. However, not all Toan’s friends were as lucky as he. Some died in the fire.

They may have been trapped in the building due to their failure to find a fire exit in time. Those who escaped were mainly bar staff, who knew well where the exits were, he said.

Of all the victims of the lunchtime fire, 11 were government employees from the nearby political training academy. They were out celebrating a finished test during a political training course, said Hanoi Party Chief Hoang Trung Hai.

The dead are thought to have suffocated inside the windowless karaoke rooms which spanned several floors.

Over the next few days, inspectors picked through the rubble, finding broken beer bottles and motorbikes burnt to a crisp.

From the soot-covered windows and denuded billboards, clanking pieces of glass and debris intermittently fell to the ground.

Strengthening inspection

The fire once again raised safety concerns over Vietnam’s karaoke bars, the majority of which are residential houses that were renovated to run the businesses.

Karaoke remains popular in Vietnam, loved by young and old alike. Large groups routinely frequent these converted residential karaoke bars. However, fire drills are rare and exits are not always provided. Last week’s fire was not the first of its kind in the capital.

In May 2014, five people burned to death at a karaoke bar in Hanoi, after an electrical malfunction triggered a massive blaze.

In September 2016, another Cau Giay district karaoke lounge went up in flames, though no casualties were reported.

Without emergency escape routes, karaoke bars have on occasion become death traps for their patrons.

In all, 23 fires have broken out at karaoke bars nationwide this year, causing losses of VND9.5 billion ($430,000). In Hanoi alone, six fires have been reported, according to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

Doan Viet Manh, head of the ministry’s Anti-Fire Department, said owners of karaoke bars do not have fire prevention knowledge and are not concerned.

Last week’s fire was likely sparked by welders working on a signboard at the bar, which had neither a fire safety certificate nor a business operation licence. Staff tried to contain the flames but failed.

The fire spread to three neighbouring buildings, burning a car and many motorbikes on the street and creating clouds of black smoke, said witness Nguyen Thu Ha, a 34-year-old street fruit vendor.

The blaze was put out with the efforts of hundreds of firemen and police officers, after raging for over six hours.

The owner of the bar had been asked several times to close it down, but it continued to operate, said Duong Cao Thanh, chairman of the Cau Giay district People’s Committee.

MPS’s Manh said that there are qualities specific to karaoke bars that make them more susceptible to fires. At a typical neighbourhood karaoke parlour, flashy billboards run the length of the street frontage, blocking potential escape routes through windows and balconies, he said.

A single staircase and elevator typically services the entire facility, while hallways on each floor have been narrowed to create more space in each karaoke room.

The lights in the building are kept on at all times, even during the day, as all sources of natural light, including emergency exits, have been blocked to soundproof the bar.

And each of these bars has a single doorway that serves as both entrance and exit.

In the blaze’s aftermath, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked police to investigate the cause of the fire and deal strictly with any violations.

He also told authorities in major cities nationwide to carry out urgent inspections on fire prevention measures in public places, focussing on karaoke parlours, discotheques, bars, and restaurants.

Hanoi’s authorities have been inspecting fire safety at more than 1,200 karaoke parlours across the city since November 2. All karaoke venues in Cau Giay have been closed for inspection.

Although local authorities are stepping up efforts at ensuring fire safety, the public should also pay more attention to protecting themselves amid a limited fire prevention infrastructure, said 20-year-old karaoke enthusiast Nguyen Thuy Ha, from the Hanoi University of Economics.

“I never go to karaoke bars that look like too much of a fire risk,” she said.

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