6 firefighters perish in Taoyuan blaze
By
Amy Chyan, The China
Six young firefighters perished in the line of duty in the early hours of
yesterday morning while trying to fight a blaze at a bowling alley located in
Taoyuan's Xinwu District.
Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) held a meeting in response to
the Xinwu fire, and said he estimated that each deceased
fireman's family will be receiving a NT$19 million pension.
Responding to the bowling alley's
architectural, operational and land use violations,
Cheng said that a heavy punishment will be meted out. In addition, Cheng
promised to tear down all of the city's illegal
structures to avoid future public safety disasters.
The Taoyuan City Government has created an
emergency group to help families with funeral plans.
Families of the deceased arrived on the
scene with Buddhist priests to summon the souls of the firemen in a spiritual
ceremony.
Second Floor Culprit
Built from metal sheets and wooden beams,
the three-story bowling alley experienced a powerful explosion after the fire
was subdued. The unexpected explosion trapped
the firemen, which led to their deaths.
Initial investigations concluded that the
fire started on the second floor, with the source of the blaze thought to be
the transformer box.
Two brothers, surnamed Liu, who owned the
business escaped the fire uninjured. The 52-year-old elder brother was a
volunteer firefighter and helped combat the deadly blaze.
The Liu brothers were summoned by police
for interrogation and have agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors'
investigation.
Timeline of Fire
Citizens informed firefighters of the
overwhelming blaze at the Xinwu bowling alley at 2:02
a .m. The Taoyuan Fire Department sent out 99 fire and police
personnel to the scene.
The fire was under control by 2:29 a .m. though half an hour later, disaster
struck as an explosion trapped members of the firefighting crew after the
second floor once again burst into flames.
By 3:46 a .m., six firemen were confirmed to be missing.
The six firemen who died are 26-year-old
Chen Feng-hsiang (陳鳳翔), 22-year-old Chen Yen-ming (陳彥茗), 21-year-old Tsai Chang-jung (蔡長融), 22-year-old Chang Kuei-chang (張桂彰), 27-year-old Tseng Chung-jen (曾重仁) and the eldest of the group Hsieh Chun-chieh (謝君杰) who was 29 years old.
After receiving news that their colleagues
had died in the fire, remaining fire department personal on scene mourned by
calling out “Mission's complete, time to go home,” as a gesture of respect.
DNA Testing To Confirm Identity
Family members of the late firemen arrived
to the hospital heartbroken and inconsolable.
Taoyuan General Hospital Sinwu Branch's (桃園醫院新屋分院) Superintendent Chen
Rui-chang (陳瑞昌) confirmed
that the six men arrived at the hospital with no vital signs.
According to prosecutors, the bodies of the
firemen are unrecognizable from the fire and their identities will have to be
confirmed through DNA testing as well as the matching of uniforms and
protective gear.
Source:http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taoyuan/2015/01/21 /427026/p1/6-firefighters.htm
Structure of the lead
What- blaze happened
When- 2015/01/20
How- operational and land use violations
Key words
perished 使死亡
deceased 死者
violations違規
tear down拆除
subdued制服
Firefighters are great people who save people when they are in danger. Because of violations, many firefighters sacrificed themselves. In addition, violations have been an issue for a long time. Most important of all is to solve the problem of violations or there will be more people die in it!
回覆刪除Firefighters are great, and their duties are try their best to save people's lives.
回覆刪除But, sometimes they may sacrifice themselves to rescue others.
I hope they can be as careful as they can when they need to rescue someone
We should pay tribute to these firefighters because they saved people from a fire at the cost of their lives. However, it is discouraging that we lost these kind and brave heros.
回覆刪除