Scene of a fire in Tân Bình District, HCM City. In the first three months of the year, 121 fires, three-fourth of the number during the same period last year, occurred, injuring nine people in the city. — Photo tienphong.vn

HCM City — In the first three months of the year, 121 fires, three-fourth of the number during the same period last year, occurred, injuring nine people.
The fires caused damages estimated at VNĐ54 billion (US$2.5 million), a reduction of VNĐ272 billion ($12.5 million) over the same period last year. However, 28 cases were not included in the estimate.
The main cause of fires in HCM City is carelessness by users, accounting for 80 per cent of the total cases, Colonel Trần Thanh Châu, deputy director of the city Department of Fire Prevention and Fighting, said at a press conference held on Friday.
He said there were no explosions during the period but warned against indiscriminate burning of vegetation and garbage, which has caused many major fires, especially during hot weather.
During the period, there were 403 fires caused by burning of vegetation and garbage, an increase of 56 per cent compared to last year.
Firefighters rescued nine people and discovered the bodies of 11 people who had died during fires in 27 rescue events, a reduction of 14 over the same period last year.
The department also conducted fire-prevention investigations at 18,245 organisations, enterprises, apartments and residential areas. They found that half of them were at risk of explosions or fires.
Inspectors found 1,914 violations and handed out 1,703 fines totalling VNĐ1.9 billion ($85,000).
The department has organised 2,137 firefighting and prevention training courses for nearly 43,000 people, and held 82 specialised training courses for 4,658 of 8,000 members of 461 new local fire-fighting and prevention 461 teams.
More than 3,700 fire-fighting rehearsals were organised, and education about fire-prevention was widely promoted in mass media. — VNS