Family members on the first anniversary of Qiao You's case call on the Changhua County Government to take responsibility and erect a monument to commemorate

Text / Gongku reporter Hong Yuzeng

On the evening of July 1, the Firefighters' Work Rights Promotion Association and the family of Chen Zhifan, a firefighter who died in the Qiao You case, jointly held a "Death in Duty Party" at the square in front of the Changhua Railway Station not far from the Qiao You Building. More than 40 people participated in the scene, and singer Wu Zhining and rural armed youth lead singer Ada attended the performance. At the scene, a candlelight silence ceremony was also used to mourn the deceased firefighter Chen Zhifan. At the end of the party, people held paper cranes on the display curtain of the deceased memorial, hoping to advance the monument.

The Qiaoyou fire occurred on the evening of June 30, 2021. The fire lasted for nearly 9 hours and spread to the "Passion Fruit Hotel" located in the same building as an epidemic prevention hotel, causing a total of 4 deaths and 21 injuries. Among the dead were three residents of the epidemic prevention hotel and Chen Zhifan, a member of the Eastern Division of the Changhua County Fire Department. Since the incident, the association and family members have been running around continuously, asking to set up a monument in the square in front of Changhua Railway Station, hoping that the public can remember this and serve as the basis for the fire reform in Changhua County.

Unfortunately, for more than a year, the Zhang County Fire Department only held a meeting with the family members on May 9 to discuss, and later indicated that it was difficult to erect the monument. In this regard, the family members and the association held a press conference, a raid and a sit-in a few days ago (6/28), and finally received a meeting notice from the Zhang County Fire Department after the 28-hour sit-in, and it is expected to meet again this Thursday (7/7). Research on the establishment of a monument ( related reports ). Chen Zhifan's sister, Chen Yizhu, mentioned that the disaster investigation report of the Ministry of the Interior was released in May this year, which clearly listed many deficiencies in Changhua County. He called on the county government to have the courage to take on mistakes and actually carry out reforms.

Zhu Zhiyu, secretary-general of the Consumer Promotion Association, further explained that the core problem of the Qiaoyou Building is that when it was changed to an epidemic prevention hotel, the relevant procedures were not implemented, resulting in problems such as "non-construction according to the plan". Even at the level of public safety declaration, the condition of the building was "pre-checked and then checked", and no actual check was carried out. Various safety negligence led to the failure of rescue when the fire broke out. Zhu Zhiyu emphasized that the problem of the Qiaoyou fire not only stemmed from the fire protection system, but also included relevant units of the county government.

At the level of the fire protection system, Zhu Zhiyu mentioned that in addition to the team leader leaving halfway, the Changhua County Fire Department was also suspected of lying. He pointed out that at that time, the fire department claimed to have dispatched many echelons of firefighters to rescue Chen Zhifan. After the incident, the firefighters at the scene said that they were assigned to search and rescue but did not know who they were going to rescue, which showed the confusion and inadequacy of the entire command system. . Zhu Zhiyu believes that more loopholes can be found only because of the participation of the association and grassroots firefighters in the Qiao You case. In the follow-up, the county government should also use the monumental action to let more people understand the attitude of the county government and carry out reforms.

Facing the negative attitude of Zhang County Government, and citing "there is no precedent for setting a monument in the square in front of the local train station", Zhu Zhiyu cited the case of death in the 2018 Taoyuan New House fire. The Taoyuan City Government chose the site in Taoyuan, a crowded city The Disaster Prevention Education Center erected a monument. Or there is a monument to the death of the dead by the Beiyi Highway. In general, it is not without precedent, and the request of the family of Qiao You's case is to choose the location in the square in front of the Changhua Railway Station. The relevant considerations are more in line with the purpose of the monument.

Regarding the design of the stele, Chen Yizhu mentioned that the base of the stele is mainly a water jet nozzle used by firefighters, and the body of the stele uses "fire phoenix" to symbolize firefighter Chen Zhifan. In the process of fighting for the monument, after the county government's negative attitude and family members protesting the sit-in, Chen Yizhu asked, "After the farewell ceremony, even our family members of firefighters were not concerned by the county government. Did anyone care about the other victims? Are there any family members of the migrant workers who died? Do you care?" He called on the county government to provide specific evidence to improve the negligence of Qiao You's case.

"Fire rescue and the management of Qiaoyou Building have always been a common cause of history." Li Zongwu, vice chairman of the Consumer Promotion Association, mentioned that since the death of a new house fire in 2015, more than 20 firefighters have died on the line, and every time It is through the death of firefighters that the public can pay attention to firefighters issues. He mentioned that even though he was also a member of the investigation committee of the Qiao You case, there were more than 170 firefighters involved in the disaster relief at the time of the incident, and only about 30 firefighters were actually willing to be interviewed by the disaster investigation committee. He called on firefighters to stand up bravely and tell the truth in order to clarify the truth.

At the same time, Li Zongwu thanked Chen Zhifan's family for their willingness to persist until now, and turned their care for Chen Zhifan into great love, and even further fought for the rights of more firefighters. He also called on the county government to complete the tombstone case as soon as possible, so that more people can remember the pain and lessons of the Qiao You case.

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