Just as we entered the New Year of 2024, a big fire broke out in a warehouse in the Qingdao Free Trade Zone. This was a shocking fire that took a full 15 hours to put out. Fortunately there were no casualties, but there was heavy damage to the cargo. The warehouse where the fire broke out was a state-owned enterprise and had failed fire inspections.
However, after the accident, the comments on the Internet were not sympathy, but various speculations, doubts and even ridicules. Some people say it is a means to reconcile accounts at the end of the year, some say it is to defraud insurance companies, and still others say it is a government conspiracy or even a punishment from God. The report given on the official website is that the open fire in the warehouse in the bonded area has been extinguished, there are no casualties, and the cause of the fire is under investigation. So the majority of netizens opened their imaginations and gave various “truths”. The real cause has not yet been announced, but whether it is a natural disaster or a man-made disaster, we need to learn lessons from it and avoid more casualties.
As it known that this is a warehouse of a state-owned enterprise, and in March this year, it failed a fire inspection. Nowadays, many companies do not regard fire protection as an important task, but just do it as a formality in response to fire inspections. Many fire protection measures are of no use at all. Even when the fire inspection failed, it was not taken seriously. Is it true that only when a huge fire breaks out can we sound the alarm for people?
Fires happen every year in factories, warehouses, supermarkets, homes, chemical plants, etc., but we just take it as news and pass by. If it doesn’t happen to us, no one will really worry about the unknown or take precautions against fires. From this point of view, these fires are all man-made disasters.
We can see from the scene and the video that this is a three-story steel structure warehouse with metal plates outside and wooden shelves and cartons inside. Various technology products, electronic equipment parts and machinery, chemicals, etc are stored inside. These things themselves are flammable and explosive. Once they encounter high temperatures or sparks, a chemical reaction will occur, producing a large amount of gas. The fire will spread quickly or even explode. They are extremely difficult to extinguish and are extremely dangerous for firefighters.
The steel structure warehouse itself is most afraid of fire. Even if there are fire prevention measures, the fire protection limit is only 2 hours. Therefore, fire safety in steel structure warehouses is very important and requires strict regulations and measures, such as installing fire extinguishers, setting up fire doors, isolating dangerous goods, regularly checking circuits, banning smoking, maintaining ventilation, regular personnel training, etc. Once a fire occurs, effective isolation measures can be taken to quickly extinguish it, thereby reducing losses.
The fire burned for 15 hours before it was extinguished. However, what we didn’t know was that it was the fire fighters who braved, not cared the heat and smoke, regardless of the danger, wore thick protective clothing, and held heavy water guns without taking a break. They had even no time to eat or drink, and they had to fight for 15 hours to put out the fire. In the face of uncontrollable fires, water guns and foam cannot extinguish burning electronic products. Without the firefighters, the fire might have spread to the surrounding environment, causing more casualties and property damage.
As for the cause of the fire, it may be that the wires in the warehouse are aging or being chewed by rats, causing sparks to emit. It may also be caused by cigarette butts thrown inadvertently, or even if someone deliberately sets the fire. . . In fact, we don’t need to make random guesses, but should get a warning from this shocking fire. Everyone can truly treat firefighting as an important job and take preventive measures before they happen. Even if a fire occurs, effective measures can be taken to deal with it.