Hanoi (VNA) – Prime MinisterPham Minh Chinh on September 12 demanded stronger actions in fire preventionand control be taken while people be put at the centre of the work.

He made the request at a national teleconferencethat looked into fire safety and the five-year implementation of the Government’sDecree No 83/2017/ND-CP on rescue and the firefighting force.

The Ministry of Public Security reportedthat the force for fire prevention and control, and rescue has beenconsolidated with hundreds of thousands of grassroots teams set up nationwide. Thepublic security force, especially the fire and rescue police, has brought intoplay their core role in performing the tasks.

Over the last five years, more than200,000 personnel and 30,000 turns of vehicles have been deployed to respond to18,000 fires, explosions, incidents, and accidents, thus saving 6,786 lives, givingsafety guidance to tens of thousands of people, and protecting hundreds ofbillions of VND worth of property each year.

However, there have been more than17,000 fire incidents during the period, killing over 400 and injuring nearly800 others while causing losses of over 7 trillion VND (297.6 million USD) and7,500ha of forest. Besides, 149 explosions have also claimed 64 lives andinjured 190, the ministry noted.

PM Chinh underlined that fireprevention and control, and rescue are important to the safeguarding ofnational security, social order and safety, as well as people’s health andlives, helping create a safe and healthy environment for socio-economicdevelopment.

He highly valued efforts andachievements by ministries, sectors, localities, and relevant forces, includingfirefighting police, in the work.

He also pointed out shortcomings thatneed to be addressed promptly and thoroughly, including the lack of awarenessand a sense of responsibility towards fire prevention and control in someplaces, penalties for violations of fire safety rules yet to be stringentenough, lax management by State agencies, limited infrastructure for fireprevention and control, and modest IT application to the work.

The Government leader demanded ministries,sectors, and localities drastically and effectively perform fire safety andrescue tasks.

They need to be fully aware of theimportance of fire prevention and control, and rescue to the protection ofpeople’s lives, health and assets, and to national socio-economic development,he said.

People must be at the centre and alsothe key player in implementing the tasks, the PM said, adding that people’ssafety must be put above all./.