Hanoi’s 48 high-rise apartment buildings fail to observe fire safety regulations

The fire at Golden Westlake (Source:dantri.com.vn)

Notably, at the end of May, the department published a report saying that 79 high-rise apartment buildings failed to meet fire safety regulations in Hanoi, 64 of which had not passed fire safety tests but were already operational, while one building was under construction without its design passing a fire safety assessment.

Also according to the report in May, Hadong district continues to have the highest number of fire safety violations, with 20 buildings falling short, followed by South Tu Liem district with seven buildings and North Tu Liem district with six.

The results mean that in the past five months, only 31 building owners have addressed the issue.

In the context of unpredictably fires, the Hanoi People’s Committee issued a long-term plan to improve the city's capacity to fight fires at high-rise buildings.

Notably, the city will purchase two planes to serve fire prevention and fighting in the city.

The Hanoi People's Committee said the planes are part of the fire prevention and fighting plan by 2025 with vision towards 2030, which was approved this month.

By 2030, more than 285,000 square metres will be allocated to build an agency for fire prevention and fighting in the city. About 6,500 firefighters will be employed to work in this field.

The focus will be on the purchase of equipment and tools from 2026 to 2030. A helicopter and a plane will be purchased to improve the rescue and firefighting capacity at high-rise buildings. More than VND11.5 trillion ($546 million) will be invested in this work.

However, the lack of response from building developers as well as residents’ failure to observe fire regulations have caused unfortunate fires.

Notably, in September 2015, there were two fire emergencies at Building CT5 in Xa La Urban Area and Building HH4 in Linh Dam Urban Area.

Just one month later, a fire was reportedly started in the basement of the 34-storey CT4 buildings in Xa La Urban Area, damaging two parking levels on an area of 1,533sq.m. Some 200 motorbikes, 45 bicycles, and one car have been reported burnt.

In addition, residents in some 200 apartments in the building located on 15-17 Ngoc Khanh Street of Ba Dinh district’s Giang Vo ward have to live with the risk of fire because the apartment still lacks a completed fire prevention system, though the building opened 10 years ago.

At 12:30 PM on December 25, a fire broke out on the top floor of the Golden Westlake apartment complex at 151 Thuy Khe Street, Tay Ho district.

According to a local witness, the blaze suddenly erupted on the 25^th floor of the building and spread quickly, with flames and smoke swirling into the sky.

Local authorities said seven fire engines were mobilised to the scene to tackle the blaze. However, firefighters have said the height of the building made it difficult to extinguish the fire.

It is lucky that no people or property were damaged. The cause of the fire is under investigation.