'Golden skills' to help escape fires in apartments and high-rise buildings

After major fires that left heartbreaking consequences, many people were suddenly startled by their lack of fire prevention skills and little knowledge of how to escape from major fires.

When a fire or explosion occurs in a high-rise building, what residents need to know is how to escape to ensure the safety of themselves and their family members.

According to Colonel Nguyen Minh Khuong, Deputy Director of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department (Ministry of Public Security), people living in apartments and high-rise buildings, if they have good and correct fire prevention and fighting skills, can handle a fire immediately when it is first discovered.

Reality shows that, in order to handle fire and explosion situations well, on-site forces such as building security guards must be healthy, skilled, educated, and knowledgeable about ensuring fire safety for that building.

When a fire occurs, it is the first force to handle the situation during the "golden time" - about the first 5 minutes from the time the fire breaks out. After that time, the fire has developed into a large fire, causing serious consequences.

apartment building 292.jpeg — Firefighters take victims of the mini apartment fire in Khuong Ha out of the danger zone. Photo: Dinh Hieu

Colonel Nguyen Minh Khuong recommends fire prevention and fighting principles in family apartments as well as apartment buildings.

First, do not place objects that obstruct emergency exits, hallways, stairs, or escape routes.

Second, people are not allowed to block the door to the fire escape, and are not allowed to open this door. Because in case of fire, if the door is opened, smoke and fire will rush in here, and people will not be able to access the escape route.

Third, do not use the elevator to escape. Because when there is a fire, the elevator will lose power. If the elevator is smart, it will automatically go down to the first floor, but in the case of a big fire on the first floor, this will be a disaster. If the elevator stops halfway, the elevator shaft will become a fire shaft, and the victims will not be able to escape.

According to Colonel Nguyen Minh Khuong, the knowledge and skills that people need to have is to use fire extinguishers. This is a necessary tool for every family, apartment building and facility.

Next is the skill of moving and escaping. When there is a fire, we need a wet towel to avoid smoke inhalation. When we run through the fire, we need a thick towel or blanket to cover ourselves and move through the fire area. During that process, we need to be calm to consider the distance to move to a safe place, judge the location of the fire, etc.

When leaving your apartment, if you discover a fire, you need to immediately use available fire fighting equipment to put out the fire, then open the door to notify people on the upper and lower floors to help put out the fire.

In case of a large fire, people must immediately move out of the apartment, close the door, call for others to press the fire alarm, and call for everyone to escape.

Fire police force instructs students on fire extinguishing skills.

In case of hearing the fire alarm, people should check the door handle, if it is hot, there is a big fire outside, then we open the door to observe outside. If there is no smoke outside, or light smoke, we prepare wet towels and breathing masks to be ready to escape.

If there is smoke in the stairwell, find another exit. If the other exit is also filled with smoke and fire, return to your own apartment and notify your neighbors.

Then people close the door tightly, use wet towels and blankets to block the door to prevent smoke from entering and use all means to turn off the electricity in the apartment, pour water throughout the room to prevent fire. That will be the time when the fire department will arrive at the construction site to rescue and put out the fire. After that, people go out to the balcony, window to shout, wave, and breathe.

In addition, if you see a fire, immediately remove all curtains from the windows to prevent the fire from spreading into the room... Use all measures to notify the authorities.

“I affirm that fire prevention and fighting skills are life skills. With these skills, we will reduce the risk of death and can also help our relatives and neighbors escape. Everyone needs to cultivate these skills to help themselves and the community,” Colonel Nguyen Minh Khuong shared.

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