Cars, electric cars, bicycles, blocking fire escapes, calling car owners to move cars is a fuss
How can the fire escape of the community be "not accessible to this road"
● Fire passage refers to the passage where firefighters rescue and trapped people are evacuated, which is known as the "life passage". In order to keep the fire passage unblocked, China's laws and fire protection technical standards have made a series of clear requirements for its setting and management
● In recent years, with the increasing number of high-rise buildings, the increasing number of private cars, coupled with the public's weak awareness of laws and safety, and the lack of management of relevant units, the phenomenon of random parking of vehicles and blocking of fire truck passages has been repeatedly prohibited
● The fire safety of the community is closely related to everyone, and fire extinguishing is the duty of fire rescue personnel, but everyone is responsible for fire prevention. Compared with the serious consequences caused by occupying fire escapes, the current legal penalties are relatively light and difficult to play a restraining role. At the same time, the relevant legal responsibilities need to be further clarified
□ Zhao Li, reporter of this newspaper
□ Intern Hu Miao
On March 3, a video of a "fire in the community, private cars occupying the fire escape overturned by enthusiastic residents" attracted attention online. It is understood that this incident occurred in Taixing, Jiangsu Province, when a fire broke out in a high-rise household in a small area, and when the fire truck came to the rescue, it was found that the fire escape was occupied by a number of private cars and could not pass, and the owner of one of the private cars could not be contacted. In an emergency, nearby residents worked together to overturn the car to the side of the road to let the fire truck pass.
Fire passage refers to the passage where firefighters carry out rescue and trapped people are evacuated, and is known as the "life passage". In order to keep the fire passage unblocked, China's laws and fire protection technical standards have made a series of clear requirements for its setting and management. However, in recent years, with the increasing number of high-rise buildings, the increasing number of private cars, coupled with the public's weak awareness of law and safety, and the lack of management of relevant units, the phenomenon of vehicles parked indiscriminately and blocking fire escapes has been repeatedly prohibited.
Recently, a reporter from "Rule of Law Daily" randomly visited a number of communities in Beijing and saw that many communities had fire escapes occupied to varying degrees. How to deal with the problem of blocked fire escapes and smooth the "life channel"? The reporter conducted an investigation and interview.
Illegal construction of parking on occupied roads
Severely blocked fire escapes
On the morning of March 3, the reporter visited Rongfeng 20 Community in Xicheng District, Beijing, Baiyunguan Beili Community, Qinan Community, No. 2008 and No. 7 Courtyards of Xibianmenwai Street, and No. 10 Courtyard of Zhenwu Temple Sitiao, and found that private cars were parked on the fire escapes marked with yellow characters in many communities. Some are two vehicles parked horizontally and vertically, occupying at least half of the fire escape, and some are several vehicles parked vertically on the fire escape in turn.
At 20 o'clock that day, the reporter came to the Beilian Community in Chaoyang District, Beijing, which is an old community with only two rows of five-story buildings, and there are no obvious fire escape signs at the entrance and internal roads. There are no parking spaces in the community, and a gray van is parked diagonally in the middle of the road, completely blocking the main road of the community, and the width of the left and right sides is less than one meter. A white car stopped in front of the unit, which not only blocked the passage road, but also affected residents to go up and down the stairs.
A resident of the community told reporters that it is common for private cars to be crowded and occupied in the community, and some residents have built illegal regulations, which seriously affects the smooth flow of fire escapes.
In addition to cars, some fire escapes have also become parking spaces for bicycles, motorcycles, electric vehicles.
Recently, this reporter saw in the Xila Hutong Community in Beijing's Dongcheng District that a closed gray gate hung a sign with red characters on a white background: "Fire Passage No Blockage." The gate is locked by a chain about 3 centimeters thick wrapped around two circles, and in the narrow passage inside the gate, more than 10 old bicycles, mountain bikes, shared bicycles and electric vehicles are parked. In the family home of the Second Bureau of Hydropower in Chaoyang District, in the yellow grid line that says "no parking in the fire escape", more than 10 electric tricycles, motorcycles and bicycles are placed at will, occupying nearly half of the area of the fire escape.
In Laizhen Homestead, located outside Beijing's North Fifth Ring Road, the reporter noticed that more than 20 electric vehicles and bicycles were parked next to a gate marked "Do not occupy the fire escape" in the community. According to community staff, although the property company has placed fire piers here, private cars cannot drive in, but it still cannot restrict electric vehicles and bicycles from being placed at will, "because the carport in the community is too few and too small, many residents' cars have no place to park, so they park their cars here."
For non-motor vehicles on the fire escape, in the opinion of the above staff, "it is also very troublesome", because motor vehicles can generally find the owner, "non-motor vehicles involve dozens of owners, many times there is no one to find at all, some electric vehicles are very heavy, once a fire occurs, it is not easy to deal with it quickly."
According to the Code for Fire Protection in Building Design (2018 Edition), roads in the block should consider the passage of fire trucks, and the fire lane should meet the net width and headroom height of not less than 4 meters, the turning radius should meet the turning needs of the fire truck, and there should be no obstacles between the fire lane and the building that hinder the operation of the fire truck.
The interior of the corridor is full of debris
There are fire safety hazards
According to public information, the Beijing 12345 service hotline has received more than 1300,<> appeals about fire safety in the first two months of this year. Among them, the public is particularly concerned about whether the fire escape is unblocked. In addition to the fire truck passage, as a passage for firefighters to rescue and evacuate trapped people, the fire passage also includes staircase entrances, aisles, etc.
In a unit building of the Family Home of the Second Bureau of Hydropower in Chaoyang District, a sign with white characters on a blue background hangs on the mottled wall on the left, which reads, "Special reminder, no parking of electric vehicles in the building, no piling of debris in public areas", and attached the contact number of the property company at the end of the article. But two floors up, the reporter saw two white plastic baskets piled up at the corner of the stairs, and several large plastic bags containing toys and old leather shoes and other sundries, accounting for one-third of the width of the passage in the corridor.
On the evening of March 3, in the north of the garden gate in Chaoyang District, a hidden unit door was opened, and in the forced corridor, an old-fashioned bicycle on the left and an electric car on the right occupied half the width, while the staircase was less than 20 centimeters wide, barely enough for an adult to pass. On the white painted wall at the entrance of the unit, the community's propaganda slogan "Clean up debris and clear the passage, easy to run in case of fire" hangs the community's propaganda slogan.
In the Beilian community, community residents took the initiative to take reporters to "see more serious corridor blockages" - starting from the third floor, the corridor was stacked with flammable items such as long wooden boards, old bookcases, plastic bags, large cardboard boxes, and various red iron buckets, stainless steel lunch boxes, and old-fashioned TVs stacked more than two meters high.
On social platforms, there are endless quarrels caused by the accumulation of debris in the corridor to occupy the fire escape.
"Blocking the fire escape, who has the power to enforce the law?" A netizen from Henan posted that more than a dozen households in the unit building where he lives have moved the air conditioner outside the stairs to the staircase, and the potential safety hazard is uncomfortable. A netizen from Jiangsu said that the fire escape of the building where he lived was blocked by an old wheelchair, long wooden boards and small round tables. To this end, he contacted fire rescue, property management companies, urban management and other forces, but still did not properly solve, "either there is no law enforcement power, or it can only be solved through negotiation."
The "life passage" is blocked, and if something goes wrong, it is life-threatening.
The experiment of Zhejiang Ningbo Fire Rescue Detachment shows that if the fire rescue road is unblocked, it only takes 3 minutes and 2 seconds to reach the scene of the fire, and the indoor temperature of the fire is 24.8 °C (the experiment time is winter). Once a blockage occurs on the way, it may take firefighters 9 minutes and 56 seconds to reach the scene of the fire, at which point the indoor temperature of the fire will reach 752.6 degrees Celsius.
"Every time we go to the police, our biggest worry is that the fire escape is blocked." A staff member of a fire rescue detachment in Liaoning Province told reporters, "The problem of blocking the fire passage has not been easy to solve, generally speaking, the fire passage in residential areas is blocked, you can first contact the property company to coordinate the solution." If it is a residential building with a building height of more than 27 meters, it belongs to a high-rise civil building and is under the management of the fire rescue department, and you can call the 12345 convenience hotline to transfer to the fire rescue department, so that the fire rescue personnel can be dealt with at the scene. ”
Lack of supervision is not punished
Let the owner take chances
"There is a fire inspection, let's cooperate. After the inspection, you guys cooperate, don't keep letting us move the car" "Where there are so many fires, it is too late to really encounter the car" "Is it inconvenient to let the owner 365 days for fire protection" ... This is the view of some of the owners that a community worker relayed to reporters during the interview.
The staff member reluctantly said that for this situation, they often fell into the dilemma of "not moving" and "not persuading" when doing their work.
In fact, the reporter also encountered a similar situation during the visit - the reporter saw that many cars parked on the fire escape in the community had reserved phone numbers, so he called over to remind the other party that the car should not be parked on the fire escape, if there is a fire, it will affect the passage of the fire truck, but the other party's reply is mostly "go immediately, take a slight occupation", "this is not not a fire", etc., and the driver said that the reporter "made a fuss", and hung up the phone.
"Some private car owners think it's a waste to have a place as big as a fire escape, and it's always empty. But once a fire occurs, it is easy to cause very serious consequences. Zhai Yehu, a professor at the Law School of Capital University of Economics and Business, believes that compared with the serious consequences brought about by such behavior, the current legal punishment is lighter and difficult to play a restraining role. At the same time, the relevant legal responsibilities need to be further clarified.
"Every second counts in fire rescue, and occupying fire escapes will hinder rescue efforts, affect the speed of rescue, and cause greater casualties. If the items occupying the fire escape are combustible, it may also aggravate the fire and make extinguishing more difficult. Wang Hongwei, a professor at the Institute of Public Governance at Chinese Minmin University, said that many residents usually place waste items in the corridor, and once a fire occurs, it will hinder the evacuation of people, prolong the evacuation time, and even lead to stampede accidents.
In the opinion of the experts interviewed, the fire safety of the community is closely related to everyone, and fire extinguishing is the duty of fire rescue personnel, but everyone is responsible for fire prevention. However, due to the lack of legal awareness of many residents and the widespread fluke mentality of private car owners, fire escapes have been occupied repeatedly.
Why is the "no parking in the fire escape" warning not binding on some people?
Chen Youhong, associate professor at the Institute of Public Policy of Chinese Minmin University, believes that the reason why the discussion on the blockage of fire escapes has lasted for many years is mainly because the issue is not a simple civil act, but involves many affairs such as fire protection, transportation, driving, and public management. Originally, some insiders thought that the responsible person could be traced according to the consequences caused by the blocked fire escape, but in reality, there were problems such as unclear ownership and chaotic management.
In this regard, some property management people said that the property company is the first person in charge of the fire passage of the community, and it is unrealistic for the fire rescue department to go to all residential areas every day or often to supervise and inspect, and the property management company should effectively assume the corresponding responsibility. However, the property company does not have the power to enforce the law, so it often faces some difficulties when managing the fire escape. In addition, the fire escape is within the community, and the traffic management department cannot manage and punish the occupation of the fire escape.
"Property companies are not law enforcement units and cannot dispose of personal belongings placed in fire escapes, so they can only play a dissuasive role and cannot effectively solve such problems." Even if a department with law enforcement power sticks a ticket, it is impossible to punish it every day, and it may be difficult to deal with this matter by means of fines and management, and in the end, it may become a law that does not hold the public accountable. Bao Hua, director of the Property Management Legal Professional Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association, said.
Chen Youhong also mentioned that it is common to punish the public without holding the public accountable, and suggested that the property management convention should be formulated through the owners' assembly to restrain the owner's personal behavior, stimulate his sense of subjectivity, and effectively maintain public safety and order in the community.
Lack of public facilities
The problem of parking difficulty needs to be solved
In addition to the limited punishment, the difficulty of parking in the community is also a major reason why the fire escape is occupied and the problem is difficult to effectively solve.
At 3:12 on Sunday, March 19, private cars were parked on the right side of the outer road of Laizhou Homestead Community, and a black private car was parked on the left, leaving a width of less than 30 meters for traffic. "This is obviously a blockage of the fire escape, and generally in such a situation, we have to call the owner and ask them to move the car." A community security guard who was patrolling told reporters.
However, according to the reporter's observation, there were almost no empty parking spaces in the surrounding area at that time. A community resident told reporters that the two floors of the underground garage are also full, and it may be difficult for the owner to find a parking space.
A resident of the community said, "In the past, the fire escape was often blocked in the community, but after changing the property company, it is much better, and private cars are also allowed to park on the side of the road outside the community without affecting the passage of fire trucks." However, the reporter visited and saw that the side of the road in the community was almost full of private cars, and in some corners there would still be vehicles blocking the fire escape.
Bao Hua said that with the rise in the demand for families to purchase various vehicles in recent years, the original parking area planning of the old community is insufficient, and some owners have no place to park in order to facilitate parking, and in desperation, they park their cars in the fire escape, resulting in some fire escapes parking most of the day.
"This has a lot to do with the fact that the public's needs for life have not been reasonably met, and the mismatch between the original planned and designed public spaces and the living needs of the current residents, especially in many old communities lack public facilities." Bao Hua said that although the law does not blame the public, although it is contrary to the principle of the rule of law and the spirit of the rule of law, it is indeed a difficult problem in law enforcement at present.
Bao Hua suggested that this problem can be solved through comprehensive management methods such as publicity, education, law enforcement, and management, and the enforcement of law enforcement and the dissuasion of dissuasion. At the same time, if the public service capacity can be further improved in the community, so that the parking needs of the majority of owners can be met, this problem will also be alleviated.
Chan believes that the problem of blocked fire escapes can be reasonably solved by setting up a committee and making it work effectively, or by allowing owners and property service units to work together. Taking Wuxi Chunjiang Garden Community as an example, the Chunjiang Garden Community Vehicle Management Service Station model launched by the community owners' meeting is a model of community governance and pluralistic co-governance. Among them, the vehicle management service station belongs to the nature of public management and service, but it is jointly built by the owners' meeting and other parties, and the owners' meeting bears the main management responsibility (including the cost of fees). There are some examples of this model to learn from.
In addition, the experts interviewed also called for raising residents' awareness of fire safety through various publicity and education methods.
"Fire protection plans and education-oriented, fire safety knowledge education, fire case education, rule of law education, etc. can be carried out in various aspects, and continuously improve the public safety awareness and fire safety awareness of community residents." Zhai Yehu said that fire protection work should be aimed at reducing accident injuries, and should be based on the principle of unified government leadership, department supervision according to law, comprehensive responsibility of units, and active participation of citizens. (Rule of Law Daily)