As employees and company owners returned to their offices at Hsichih's gutted high-tech complex yesterday, firefighters and investigators were sifting through the ashes trying to find out just what went wrong and how the fire managed to blaze for over 40 hours.
While an investigation by government officials into the accident has just begun, it was already becoming evident that the building's loose fire safety standards and county government officials' inability to enforce existing laws had contributed to the catastrophe.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
It was unclear whether a Buddhist shrine on the third floor of "A" building, where the fire began, had sparked the blaze.
The three owners of the shrine, who were missing until late yesterday afternoon and barred from leaving the country by prosecutors, denied responsibility and said that the shrine did not burn incense. One of the three owners, Hsieh Po-yuan (謝博源) held a press conference late yesterday night.
Hsieh said that he and the others were not hiding from authorities, but had gone to practice Buddhism in the mountains with controversial independent lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (
"We didn't know anything about what had happened," Hsieh said.
Lo's son, Lo Ming-tsai (
However, even before firefighters stepped into the blazing complex, it was by all accounts fraught with safety problems.
According to a safety inspection report from Taipei County's Fire Bureau, the building had not completed a fire prevention report since 1999.
In February of this year, the complex failed to pass its first test. A report said the building lacked fire extinguishers, and obstacles blocked sprinkler systems and foam extinguishers in the complex. On March 6, the complex failed to pass another test, which mentioned that the complex lacked a network of releasing vents and fire warning systems, that its sprinkler systems were malfunctioning, and that the building lacked signs which would help individuals locate fire exits and fire extinguishers. The complex was supposed to report improvements by May 6.
It was unclear why county government officials had been so lenient with the building's owners.
Speaking with the Taipei Times yesterday an official from the Cabinet's National Fire Administration said officials should have been stricter in their handling of the matter.
"Whenever large buildings fail to pass safety tests, the water and electricity should be cut off," the official said, who wished to remain anonymous.
However, according to current fire regulations such a possibility is not an option. According to Taiwanese fire prevention regulations, buildings that fail fire prevention tests and do not improve in a requested "period of time," will be fined NT$10,000 to NT$50,000, a fee which fire safety experts say is hardly enough to prod building management to take the matter very seriously. To make matters worse, the law doesn't clearly define what "a period of time" actually means.
Over 20 of the 468 companies in the complex were destroyed in the blaze and only 150 companies are legally registered.
Fire safety loopholes also helped make the complex a tinderbox.
The owner applied for the construction of the building in 1989, when now outdated fire prevention regulations only required automatic sprinklers from the 10th story and above in tall buildings. Now all buildings must have sprinkler systems installed on all floors.
Some company owners from the complex blamed firefighters.
"I think firefighters made the mistakes. They should have set up firewalls to keep the fire from spreading to other buildings or higher stories, when they first discovered the fire on the 16th floor," Liu said.
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