China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Deadly fire brings review Harbin hotel had failed four safety inspections
A deadly blaze in Northeast China that killed 20 people and injured 23, including firefighters, has triggered a nationwide inspection of densely populated areas, as the country enters its fire-prone period and tourism rush.
The blaze at the four-story Beilong Hot Spring Hotel in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, started at 4:36 am on Saturday.
More than 100 firefighters with 30 fire trucks extinguished the fire at 7:50 am after evacuating more than 80 people and rescuing 20 others who had been trapped. They found 19 bodies. One of the injured died in the hospital.
The fire started in a kitchen on the second floor and burned an area of around 400 square meters, according to the provincial fire department.
Police have detained the legal representative of the hotel, Zhang Weiping, 46. Officials are also looking into the cause of the fire and are yet to establish the identities of all the victims. Most of the injured are being treated at Harbin First Hospital.
“We launched an emergency response effort and opened a green channel to ensure the timely treatment of the injured after receiving the news,” said Liu Yuehong, deputy director of the hospital.
“Many of the 20 patients at our hospital were affected by gas poisoning. Some had external injuries. All are in stable condition and need further observation and treatment.”
Gao Renwen, 72, was the first to call the police. “When I saw the fire, my first thought was to dial 110,” he said, adding that he heard the leader of his tour group urgently shouting downstairs after the call.
Another tourist, surnamed Luo, awoke as heavy smoke engulfed her room. “I felt hopeless when I found the same situation in the corridor. I didn’t know how to escape,” the 65-year-old told China News Agency at the hospital.
She and her husband leapt from the third floor to escape and fractured their spines.
“I’m still frightened even now that we’re safe,” Luo said, adding that she felt lucky to be alive. She is part of a 90-member tour group from Beijing.
Fang Zhenghui, secretarygeneral of the Harbin city government, said a team has been set up to conduct an in-depth investigation, adding that a citywide safety check will also be carried out.
“Those responsible for this fire must be dealt with seriously,” he said.
According to the provincial fire department’s website, the hotel, which opened in 2015, had failed to pass four fire safety inspections December 2017.
There were several fire risks in the hotel, such as a lack of fire extinguishers and malfunctioning indicator lights for emergency exits. Two exits had been locked, local media reported.
Referring to the incident as a “very painful lesson”, the Ministry of Emergency Management’s fire department held a conference the same day, vowing to inspect densely populated places to root out safety hazards.
The deadly blaze “fully reveals the neglect of fire prevention duties” in some companies and institutions, it said in a statement.
“Affected by overlapping factors — including concentrated travel and tourism activities, increasingly frequent business operations, an increase in the flow of people and logistics issues associated with the shift from summer to autumn, China since has entered a fire-prone period,” the statement said.
It also noted that there have been multiple fires with more than three deaths in the country this month, an increase from previous years.
The department called for immediate action in densely populated areas — those with schools, hotels, hospitals, entertainment venues and tourist sites — to check the maintenance of fire control facilities and escape routes, and to determine whether fire control duties have been well performed.
The department will summon executives, make safety hazards known to the public and monitor the rectification process to help companies enhance their capabilities in fire prevention and rescue, it said.