Five months after the Changhua Qiao You case, the truth is unknown

Text / Gongku reporter Hong Yuzeng

This morning (11/3), the Firefighters' Work Rights Promotion Association, together with the family of Chen Zhifan, a firefighter who died in the Qiao You fire, as well as Taiwan Railway Industry Union, Changhua County Councilor Wu Weida, Times Power Changhua Party Director Zheng Yuyan, and Minjin Party member Yang Zixian, a candidate for the Changhua County Council, jointly held a press conference in front of the Changhua County Office, and asked Changhua County Mayor Wang Huimei to express her position on whether she would attend the evening party on the death of Qiao You on tomorrow (11/4).

On the evening of June 30, a fire broke out in the Qiaoyou Building near Changhua Railway Station, and it took more than 9 hours to put out the fire. The fire affected the "Passion Fruit Hotel" located in the same building as an epidemic prevention hotel, resulting in a total of 4 deaths and 22 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. Zhu Zhiyu, secretary-general of the Firefighters' Work Rights Promotion Association, pointed out that it has been nearly five months since the death in the line of duty. However, the Changhua County Government did not propose a specific review content, and refused on the grounds that "criminal investigation is inconvenient to disclose."

Wu Weida also mentioned that after the death of Qiao You in the line of duty, he kept asking the county government whether to propose relevant improvements and investigations. Wu Weida thinks the county government's response is quite absurd. Even if the criminal investigation has relevant regulations and cannot be made public, the Changhua county government should complete the administrative investigation as soon as possible and make it clear to the public, so as to fulfill the responsibilities of the administrative department, but the Changhua county government is still reluctant respond.

Wu Weida further pointed out that a few days ago (10/14) there was a fire in the city center building in Kaohsiung. Two weeks after the incident, the Kaohsiung County Fire Department and other administrative units have also compiled administrative investigation reports. A few days ago (10/29) Wu Weida also took the city-in-city fire as an example in the parliamentary question, and asked the Changhua County Government to release relevant information as soon as possible, but there was no positive response. The Fire Department of the Ministry of the Interior also issued a press release that day, stating that the Changhua County Government should still investigate the facts of the accident in response to the issues and issues arising from the Qiaoyou fire, and prepare and publish relevant investigation reports based on its powers and responsibilities. In response to the content of the fire department's press release, the Changhua County Government responded with a press release , and will announce the administrative investigation report on the Qiaoyou fire in the shortest possible time.

Zhu Zhiyu strongly criticized that the Consumer Promotion Association, family members, and civilians have repeatedly asked the Changhua County Government for information, but they have been closed. Now the Central Fire Department requires the local government to take the initiative to announce the relevant information, which shows that the Changhua County Government's handling of the incident has been too negative. He emphasized that the Kaohsiung County Government will issue an administrative investigation report in about two weeks in response to the fire in the city within the city. In contrast, the Qiao You case has even been trapped in the firefighter Chen Zhifan's time sequence data, and how the Changhua County Government will control dangerous buildings in the future. nothing. In particular, the three briefing sessions between the county government and the families of the deceased firefighters have been held since the incident, all of which were held by the consumer promotion association and their families to strive for the county government. Zhu Zhiyu said that the whole process has not seen the sincerity of the county government.

Regarding the actual investigation of the Qiao You case, Wu Weida pointed out that questions related to the Qiao You case can be found through data collection, video review, etc., including that there are no safety door devices in the third and fourth stairwells of the Qiao You Building, which caused the fire to be unstoppable and continue to rise. The fire spread and there were many waste foam and other flammable materials inside the third floor, which caused the fire to get out of hand. However, the county government did not clarify and publicly explain the relevant questions.

At the same time, information such as Chen Zhifan's "being singled out" and his death on duty was circulated on the Internet. In fact, Wu Weida further inquired about the firefighters who were with Chen Zhifan at the time and found that the radio signal could not be transmitted back to the first floor at the time of the fire. Therefore, he coordinated with the fellow firefighters and asked for help. During the process, the firefighters were also rescued by hanging on the window for three or four hours due to factors such as thick smoke and high temperature.

In response to the above situation, Wu Weida believes that the Changhua County Fire Department should clarify and decipher the rumors of netizens. In the face of the fact that the truth of Qiao You's case is still unknown, the Consumer Promotion Association and Chen Zhifan's family will hold a memorial party on tomorrow (11/4), requesting Wang Huimei or the deputy county magistrate and other relevant personnel to attend the party to respond to public demands and Show sincerity. Unfortunately, at the end of the press conference, even though the protesters had reached the gate of the county government and asked Wang Huimei, who was giving a speech for the event, to come forward to explain, the county government finally only assigned the secretary Chen Junnan and the secretary Lai Zhengou to come forward to accept the complaint, and did not do much. respond.

【Extended reading】

You can read about the Joe Friends fire here...
2021.07.13 The Qiaoyou fire has not been clarified yet? Families of deceased firefighters and militia groups make three demands
2021.07.23 Zhang County Fire Department held a briefing session on Qiaoyou fire
2021.07.28 The investigation meeting of Qiao You was postponed, and the fire department called it to cooperate with the family members to participate. Family members: no notification received
2021.08.03 An investigation meeting was held for the first time in the case of Qiao You's death in the line of duty. The Consumer Promotion Association called on the family and the Secretariat to attend

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