In the early morning of September 20, a fire broke out in a community in Tongzhou District, Beijing, covering an area of 60 square meters and killing 5 people.
Preliminary investigation by the fire department revealed that the fire was caused by an explosion when the tenants on the third floor brought the lithium battery of an electric bicycle into the house for charging.
According to data released by the Fire and Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Emergency Management, there are about 2,000 electric bicycle-related fires across the country each year, of which 80% are caused by charging.
Electric bicycle fires cause loss of life and property frequently stinging the hearts of the public.
In view of this, the Ministry of Emergency Management has issued new regulations that explicitly prohibit charging electric bicycles in public spaces of civil buildings.
However, due to the lack of electric bicycle parking and charging places in some communities, the number of charging piles is also seriously mismatched.
Some people had no choice but to unload the batteries and take them home to recharge them. Others lacked common sense of fire safety and tried every means to find channels to modify the batteries illegally to extend the mileage.
As everyone knows, every fluke conceals a huge risk, which is very likely to lead to irreparable consequences.
To avoid electric bicycle fire accidents, the most important thing is to reduce the risk from the source.
Only when parking places and charging facilities are sufficient, and the blockage becomes sparse, the residents will not "guerrilla", and there is no need to take the battery home to recharge and cause danger.
In addition, I would rather "offend people" than "dead people."
In response to the phenomenon of some residents parked in disorder, electric vehicles "going upstairs and entering the house", privately pulling cables and charging day and night, some community owners and property management personnel have complained about the lack of management — "It is impossible to send someone to watch at the entrance of each corridor. "Now that the neighbor has said that he offends others."
However, public safety concerns everyone's vital interests, and we are not afraid of "offending others" in order to minimize the occurrence of tragedies.
In addition, law enforcement agencies should enforce the law strictly and promptly.
The new regulations formulated by the Ministry of Emergency Management have been formally implemented, and fire departments across the country have successively issued "tickets" for serious violations, fully releasing the warning effect.
However, there are still some places that have not yet carried out special rectification actions in conjunction with the new regulations, and there are phenomena such as delay in law enforcement and negligence.
Life safety is above all else.
To control electric bicycle fires, it is necessary to be alert at all times and strictly guard against death, but also to turn blockages into sparseness, strengthen infrastructure construction, and make up for the "shortcomings" of people's livelihood.
There is no uncontrollable "pain", only the "injury" caused by indulgence.
(Wu Wenxu and Zhang Xiao, commentators of this newspaper)