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Another building burns after failing inspection

Lin Chien-cheng leans from a 25th-floor window of the Tuntex skyscraper on Taipei's Tunhua South Road yesterday morning to escape the thick smoke produced by the fire which raged through the building. He was rescued more than three hours after calling the emergency services. PHOTO: LIAO RAY-SHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

A fire broke out on the 10th floor of a 36-story building in downtown Taipei yesterday. Seven people were treated for smoke inhalation, but no one died in the blaze. City police and the fire department are investigating the cause of the fire.

The Tuntex skyscraper, which is owned and built by the Tuntex Group (東帝士集團), is situated on Tunhua S Rd Sec 2, in downtown Taipei.

The group last month suffered a NT$3.5 billion loss during a fire in a 26-story high-tech complex in Hsichih, Taipei County. The group is the owner of the building.

A probe into the Hsichih fire showed that the building, which was constructed in 1996, had not passed a fire safety inspection since 1998.

Police investigations also suggested that the county fire brigade might have been collecting bribes from the group.

In the wake of the Hsichih fire, the city's Fire Department conducted an overall fire-safety inspection on the city's buildings which are 15 stories and above.

The Tuntex skyscraper was one of the buildings which failed to pass the May 17 inspection. Altogether 28 of the city's 59 buildings that are taller than 15 stories failed to meet public safety standards.

The Tuntex building failed in five categories, including its sprinkler system, carbon dioxide detectors, fire alarm system and smoke detectors. It had been listed as an unsafe building by the Taipei City Government.

Although the Tuntex Group suffered sustantial losses during the Hsichih fire, Chang Ching-te (張清德), one of the group's chairmen, said that the fire yesterday did little financial harm to the group since it had sold most of the building to different enterprises except for the 35th floor.

According to a press release issued by the Fire Department yesterday afternoon, the fire broke out on the 10th floor of the building at around 5:01am.

A total of 58 fire engines, 242 firefighters, and eight extendable ladder trucks were dispatched to the scene.

Although the fire was extinguished at around 8:40am, about 10 to 20 firefighters remained at the scene until around midnight.

At around 5:30am, firefighters rescued Chang Tung-ho (張東河) from the smoke-filled basement and rushed him to the Municipal Jenai Hospital. He was still in hospital at press time.

Firefighters managed to rescue another person, Lin Chien-cheng (林建呈), after receiving a cellphone call from him. Lin used his phone to call 119 at 5:44am to inform emergency services of his situation.

Because Lin was out of the reach of the fire truck's elevating platform, five firefighters had to climb up the stairs of the burned-out building. By the time they reached Lin at 7:58am, it had been over two hours since he initially called them.

It took another hour before Lin was escorted successfully to the ground at 9:05am. Lin and the five firefighters immediately were rushed to Jenai Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
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