The Greater Tainan Fire Department yesterday said a tip led it to discover 302 cases of illegally stored firecrackers, less than two days after a powerful blast killed four people in Wugu District (五股), New Taipei City (新北市).
Aside from seizing the items, the fire department will also fine the owner of the house, surnamed Tsai (蔡), in Jente District (仁德) between NT$300,000 (US$10,400) and NT$1.5 million.
Lee Cheng-chang (李政昌), captain of the department’s Fifth Brigade, said a tip that was received yesterday morning led the department to a large quantity of fireworks being kept in a building constructed of sheet metal.
Since the building was located in a densely populated area, the person who tipped-off the department was worried there was the potential for a large number of casualties if there was an accident, Lee said.
The series of explosions on Friday, which police believe were triggered by fireworks that were being unloaded from a delivery truck outside an incense shop, killed the truck driver, the owner of the shop, his mother and a motorist driving by, and left 35 others injured.
Accompanied by police and the borough warden, Greater Tainan Fire Department officials went to the location in Jente to confirm the information given them in the tip off. After seeing the stacked fireworks in the building through a window, they called the owner of the house.
Tsai said he had a legal permit for the fireworks and had only stored them in the building because his store was under renovation.
However, he did not provide documents proving he was in legal possession of the fireworks.
Meanwhile, as of yesterday, five of the 17 people who were injured in the Wugu blast and admitted to Mackay Danshui Hospital remained hospitalized and 12 others were discharged after treatment. The other injured people were admitted into other hospitals in the Greater Taipei area.
Witnesses said they saw the truck explode as its driver was unloading fireworks from the vehicle, and then burst into flames, which police believed was corroborated by physical evidence showing the direction of the blast and the wreckage at the site.
Four houses and seven cars were completely destroyed by the blasts, while houses and cars within a radius of hundreds of meters suffered extensive damage.
The New Taipei City Fire Department pledged yesterday to strengthen regulations on manufacturing and importing fireworks.
New Taipei City Fire Department officials said police were checking the numbers of the calls made from the driver’s cellphone in the days before the accident to try to track down the original seller of the products.
New Taipei City Fire Department Commissioner Huang Teh-ching (黃德清) said that according to the Firework and Firecracker Management Act (爆竹煙火管理條例), any person wishing to import or manufacture fireworks should obtain permission from the National Fire Agency.
The act also requires detailed information to be filed with the agency regarding fireworks transactions, including transportation methods and transit routes for fireworks shipments.
However, the owner of the truck in the Wugu blast had not applied for a permit to transport the goods, Huang said.
The agency has previously come under scrutiny for its lax supervision of fireworks.
It was censured by the Control Yuan in January last year because it “allowed a large quantity of imports of fireworks, but did not appropriately regulate them.”
The agency said the act was later amended in June last year to require those hoping to import fireworks to obtain a license from local fire departments or face fines ranging between NT$300,000 and NT$1.5 million.
An amendment to the act proposed by Democratic Progressive Party legislators in April last year stipulated that illegal manufacturers of fireworks should serve three to 10 years in prison and pay fines ranging from NT$2 million to NT$10 million in the event of fatalities, while those found guilty of causing serious injury would have to serve between one and seven years in jail, as well as pay a fine from NT$1 million to NT$5 million.
Meanwhile, an eight-year-old girl who helped save her mother’s life by demonstrating bravery and calmness after their car was rattled by Friday night’s explosion, was lauded for her courage.
The young girl, surnamed Kuo, was in a car being driven by her mother when a series of explosions set off by fireworks rocked the area, turning the incense shop and nearby streets into a raging inferno.
The girl’s mother was hit in the face and knocked unconscious by flying shards of glass and was bleeding profusely.
Kuo, who sustained cuts to her hands, cried for help, but she got no answer. She then ran to the driver’s side of the car to help her mother, but had trouble opening the door, which was damaged by the blasts.
The girl was eventually able to drag her mother out of the car before running to passers-by and getting help. The two were taken to Mackay Memorial Hospital’s Danshui Branch, where New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) paid them a visit yesterday.
Chu saluted Kuo for her bravery and coolness during the emergency.
According to government statistics, 40 people died in firework manufacturing related explosions in Taiwan from 1994 to 2004 — the most recent period for which figures are available.
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