The fire flared up fiercely, leaving no time to react.

Early in the morning of December 13, Ms. Loan (Ban Giua village, Huu Bang commune, Thach That district, Hanoi) went to the scene of the fire at the row of factories and wooden furniture stores to express her condolences to her neighbors.

According to Ms. Loan, this is the largest and most widespread fire in many years in the Huu Bang wooden furniture manufacturing village.

"There have been fires in several houses at once before, but it's been a long time since there's been a fire in 10 houses like this," said Ms. Loan.

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A fierce fire broke out at a row of factories in Huu Bang commune. Photo: Minh Phuong

A worker near the scene said the fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. At that time, everyone was home having dinner so they didn't notice it in time. They only realized it when the fire was big.

"At the factories, after working hours, everyone turns off the electricity, closes the doors and goes home, so if there is a fire on the second floor, no one will know to handle it," said the male worker.

According to this person, when the incident was discovered, the commune's volunteer fire fighting team quickly came to the rescue, but inside there were many wooden materials, leather, glue, paint... so the fire could not be put out.

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The scene of desolation covers the wooden furniture production village of Huu Bang. Photo: Dinh Hieu

Present at the scene when the fire broke out, Mr. Tien (a resident of Huu Bang commune) said that the fire was very large and raging so fiercely that people could not approach to put it out.

"I felt very sad seeing people's property burning, but I couldn't get closer because the fire was big and very hot," Mr. Tien explained.

All the fortune suddenly disappeared

In the crowd standing at the scene of the fire, a local resident asked and encouraged: "My condolences! With such a fire, were you able to move anything yesterday?". The factory owner replied sadly: "I only managed to move a few things on the first floor."

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The factory collapsed after the fire. Photo: Dinh Hieu

Immediately afterwards, the factory owner quietly went in to inspect the damage at his facility. He shared: "Inside the facility are all machines, raw materials, and finished products... Everything was burned down. Now, estimating how much money it would cost is beyond words."

Another factory owner said: "Tet is over! My family's entire fortune has been wiped out in an instant." He said that if there were more small fire pumps, the damage would be less.

"In the village, the production facilities are small and located close together, so if a fire breaks out, it can easily spread. In addition, the houses contain paint and leather to make sofas, wooden furniture, etc., so the fire flared up very quickly," said the factory owner.

According to the owner of this factory, everyone is very sad because of the great property damage but must try to clean up to resume production and business.

According to initial information, at around 8:30 p.m. on December 12, people discovered a fire at a wood workshop in Ban Giua village (Huu Bang commune). In just a few minutes, the fire and smoke billowed up, quickly spreading to the shops and wood workshops next door.

Hanoi City Police mobilized the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Thach That and Quoc Oai districts... along with dozens of officers and soldiers to put out the fire. After more than 3 hours of firefighting efforts, the fire was extinguished. The fire did not cause any human casualties, but property damage is being counted.

The scene of devastation after the fire at a wooden furniture village in Hanoi According to local people, the fire burned down more than 10 factories and wooden furniture stores in Huu Bang craft village (Thach That, Hanoi).