Two firefighters on Sunday night died in a Hsinchu City apartment complex fire, with the last of the 351 residents evacuated at about 1:10pm yesterday, the Hsinchu City Fire Bureau said.
After receiving a report of the fire at 10:55pm on Sunday, firefighters at the scene found that cables in a pipe room were burning and emitting thick smoke, the bureau said.
Using two water pipes, they brought the blaze under control at about 11:35pm, although residual smoldering continued, it said.
Photo courtesy of Hu Han-kung
Firefighters Lee Yung-chen (李詠真) and Chou Li-hsin (周立鑫) had entered one of the buildings where the power had gone out to rescue the people trapped inside, the bureau said.
The pair were taking the stairs to the third and eighth floors, where people were reportedly trapped, when they discovered they had insufficient oxygen, a firefighter said.
More firefighters were dispatched to rescue them after receiving distress signals, and found Lee and Chou collapsed on the third-floor stairwell, the firefighter said.
The thick and sticky smoke from the burning cables might have made it harder for them to escape, they said.
Due to the heavy smoke more than 100 people remained trapped in the complex yesterday morning, while firefighters worked to vent the smoke.
The complex consists of four 28-floor buildings.
One resident said her family waited on their balcony until about 7am yesterday before being rescued by a ladder truck.
The last of the 351 residents were evacuated from the complex in the early afternoon.
Some children inhaled smoke and needed to be hospitalized, the bureau said, but no other deaths were reported.
The cause of the fire and the deaths of the firefighters had yet to be determined as of yesterday.
Hsinchu Mayor Kao Hung-an (高虹安) early yesterday morning visited rescued residents and family members of the deceased firefighters at a hospital, offering her condolences and gratitude.
She said the city government would handle the affairs for Lee’s and Chou’s families.
Lee, 39, had served in the fire bureau for 19 years and Chou, 34, for 14 years, the bureau said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS