Firefighters yesterday issued public warnings on firecrackers and reminded people to check that indoor heaters had secure gas pipes, following fire incidents in Taichung and Yilan County.
Firefighters responded to a fire at a three-story building in Taichung’s Dali District (大里) yesterday morning, rescuing two people trapped inside the burning building, with a preliminary investigation finding that firecrackers had caused the blaze.
More than a dozen fire trucks, water pump vehicles and ambulances were involved in dousing the blaze and controlling the fire after about 30 minutes, Taichung City 3rd Fire Brigade Captain Chan Jen-chieh (詹仁傑) said.
Photo: CNA
The two people rescued from the building were 24-year-old and 17-year-old siblings, whose father owns the building and runs a business on the ground floor, said Chan, who ran the rescue operation.
The siblings received on-site care and were transferred to a hospital, where they were recovering from minor smoke inhalation injuries, Chan said.
The building’s owner had set off strings of firecrackers in the morning, then swept the debris into a pile on the first floor, he said,
The smoldering embers then inflamed and turned into a major fire which trapped the siblings, he added.
“It is traditional for shops to start business on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, and for people to set off firecrackers to make loud explosive sounds that symbolize an auspicious start to the year,” he said.
“Firefighters had to respond to more fire incidents during the Lunar New Year, and especially on the fifth day, as a good proportion of these are due to firecrackers, which are quite dangerous,” Chan said.
“We urge people to handle them with great caution, and also not to pile up firecracker debris or bring it inside the house, as embers can heat up and turn into a blaze,” he said.
In Yilan, investigators said an explosion was likely caused by a gas leak, after a fire destroyed 10 housing units.
The explosion took place at about 11pm on Wednesday, and was followed by a fire that ripped through the adjoining houses.
Six people were taken to hospitals for sustained injuries.
After controlling the blaze yesterday morning, Yilan fire officials said they found that one of several gas cylinders connected to a water heater had leaky pipes.
The gas leak was likely the cause of the fire, they said, adding that several people caught in the fire reported a strong smell of gas in the air shortly before the explosion.
Separately, the body of a man in his 90s was recovered in a fire in Kaohsiung’s Fongshan District (鳳山) yesterday morning, as firefighters doused a blaze in a three-story building.
An investigation into the cause of the fire was ongoing.
The man was the only body found inside the building, and there were likely no other victims in the incident, authorities said.
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No one was working at the site and no injuries were reported, authorities said, adding that the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
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