About: Eurofeu Asia, Fire, UB, UB Post
Written by William Kennedy on Thursday, February 05, 2009
As Ulaanbaatar develops and its infrastructure ages, fires continue to pose a major and alarmingly regular risk to the city’s residents. By far Mongolia’s most common and costly disaster, fire struck 1,425 in Ulaanbaatar last year alone, according to statistics compiled by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).While NEMA Commissioner D. Namsrai said that improved technology and training has helped Mongolians combat blazes, keeping fires from happening in the first place remains a major challenge.
“In Ulaanbaatar, about 1,000 people (approximately one quarter of NEMA’s total staff) work to fight fires,” Namsrai said. “Now we’re seriously looking to carry out fire prevention.”
One place NEMA has turned for assistance is Eurofeu Asia, a fire safety and equipment company which created its Mongolian branch nearly a decade ago. Experienced with a European firefighting model, Eurofeu has provided NEMA with training and equipment, while recommending changes to the country’s fire codes. Both organizations state that Mongolia has achieved some progress, but fire prevention has advanced slowly in Ulaanbaatar, in part because the city lacks sufficient fire inspection personnel.
“Ulaanbaatar has nine districts in which 27 full time inspectors work along with some assistant inspectors,” Namsrai said. These inspectors, however, are stretched, often examining up to four sites a day, and he added, “As Ulaanbaatar develops, we need more inspectors—In fact, [right now] there are not enough for the city.”
Eurofeu Director Christopher de Gruben agrees. “The regulations and the laws are actually reasonably good. It’s just enforcing it that’s a problem,” he said. “If the laws not enforced, they can’t actually make a difference.”
Mongolia’s laws still have room for improvement according to Eurofeu, which cites a lack of residential fire safety regulations as one major oversight. While Mongolians are increasingly protecting their businesses, they often neglect to put the same precautions in their homes, making residences the site of more and more fires.
“The biggest source of fires is aging electrical installations, that were usually installed in the 50s and 60s, usually very badly,” de Gruben said. “People consume more electricity than they used to, and now you have washing machines, fridges, TVs, everything running off one plug—eventually it burns.”
Indoor wood stoves and cigarettes create additional risks, sometimes leading to a small fire that erupts into major a one when improperly addressed —a monthly occurrence in Ulaanbaatar according to Eurofeu.
“There are a disproportionate amount of fires [in the city]simply because people are not prepared for it,” de Gruben said. Eurofeu organizes trainings to educate companies and individuals about fire safety and the use of fire equipment, but even if a family has an extinguisher at home, many of the devices suffer from poor quality and some fail to work entirely. Eurofeu’s extinguisher’s meet European standards and are guaranteed to function by the company, De Gruben said, but the cost of this equipment can be prohibitive, with even a moderately sized 4kg fire extinguisher going for Tg40,000.
Fire danger is habitually compounded by Ulaanbaatar’s narrow and ragged roads, that often cost firefighters valuable seconds as they rush to control a blaze. Moreover, as the city grows, the distances firefighters must travel, both laterally but vertically, create sizeable problems. Certain areas in Ulaanbaatar’s ger districts are nearly unreachable from centrally located fire stations, while indiscriminately erected buildings and fences around the city impede the paths of rescue vehicles, Namsrai said. UB’s tall buildings have also outgrown the fire departments ladders, despite the recent addition of both purchased and donated Russian and Japanese-made fire engines.
Some of Mongolia’s fire fighting difficulties could be solved by money, but that’s exactly what the country doesn’t have at the moment. While NEMA’s budget increased from 2007 to 2008, Namsrai does not expect the agency will have enough funds to increase the number of firefighters, vehicles, and inspectors that it needs to keep the city and the country safe.
“This year we just don’t have enough money because of the global financial crisis,” he said.
While NEMA’s statistics show instances of fire decreasing around the country in 2008 by over 300 from the previous year, continuing to combat the prevalence and damage it causes will almost certainly require increased diligence from Mongolian residents, and a greater public awareness about fire prevention.
About: Eurofeu Asia, Fire, UB, UB Post
