In recent years, the safety issue of electric bicycle batteries has drawn attention from all sectors, and many places have successively issued relevant regulations prohibiting residents from bringing electric bicycles and batteries indoors to charge. However, these safety regulations are still ignored by some people. Not long ago, an accident occurred in Hubei in which a resident removed the battery from an electric bicycle and brought it home alone to charge, causing a fire.

At around 4 a.m. on March 19, a fire broke out in an 11-story residential building in a residential community in Wuhan, Hubei. After receiving the alarm, the local fire department quickly mobilized two fire stations and 50 firefighters to the scene to participate in the rescue.

After arriving at the scene, firefighters found that the fire was on the 9th floor, and the fire was burning fiercely, with thick smoke billowing. The residents of the burning apartment had evacuated outside on their own. Firefighters quickly set up water hoses and began firefighting operations while searching for and evacuating other residents in the building. Thanks to the firefighters' efforts, the fire was quickly extinguished. Fortunately, the accident caused no casualties.

A joint investigation by the fire and public security departments found that warning posters strictly prohibiting the indoor parking and charging of electric bicycles were posted at the entrance doors and stairway entrances of the community, and charging piles had also been built in the community. However, the person involved, Xiao Moumou, still took a chance, removed the battery from the electric bicycle and brought it home to charge, causing the battery to catch fire during charging. This act constituted negligently causing a fire. In accordance with the provisions of Article 64, Item 2 of the Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, the public security organ imposed an administrative penalty of 10 days' detention on Xiao Moumou in accordance with the law.

Fire hydrant records intact but no water: property management penalized for dereliction of duty

During the firefighters' rescue of this fire accident, another safety hazard was also discovered. There was actually no water in the fire hydrant on the floor where the fire occurred.

Peng Qi, a firefighter from the Jiang'an Brigade of the Wuhan Fire and Rescue Detachment: On that day, when our interior attack personnel reached the fire floor, they found that the fire hydrant in the building had no water. Therefore, we used the window to lower hoses vertically, threw the hoses down to the ground, connected them to our fire engines, and supplied water to fight the fire.

After the incident was handled, firefighters returned to the community where the fire occurred for inspection and conducted a water pressure test on the indoor fire hydrant on the 9th floor of the building where the fire occurred. When the valve was turned to the maximum, it was found that no water still flowed from the indoor fire hydrant.

Subsequently, firefighters randomly inspected two other residential buildings in the community and similarly found that the indoor fire hydrants could not supply water.

On an inspection form on one fire hydrant, firefighters saw that it recorded that the most recent inspection by the community property company was in January 2024 and noted that firefighting facilities such as the nozzle, hose, and hydrant door were intact, with none found missing or damaged. However, the inspection form did not record the problem that the fire hydrant could not supply water.

An Tao, a fire safety inspector from the Wuhan Fire and Rescue Detachment: The lack of water in indoor fire hydrants is a very serious fire safety hazard and will greatly affect the efficiency of our firefighting.

According to the inspection findings, the property company was exposed as having insufficient safety awareness and improper management. In accordance with the Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, the fire department imposed a fine of exactly 48,500 yuan on the property company in accordance with the law and conducted a supervisory talk with the company, notified it of the safety hazards existing in the community, and required the property company to immediately advance the rectification of fire hazards while actively carrying out fire safety publicity, education, and training.