Society

Fire equipment sales skyrocket in wake

By Li Xinzhu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-18 06:50

SHANGHAI - Anxious residents turned to online shopping sites to purchase fire protection equipment after an apartment building was engulfed by flames in Shanghai on Monday, killing at least 53.

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According to the sales record of an online fire protection equipment store on taobao.com, the largest domestic online marketplace, more than 50 fire extinguishers were sold within Tuesday and Wednesday, while only four had been sold in the preceding three days.

In the aftermath of the blaze, a number of netizens have expressed their concerns about fire protection equipment for their homes.

"We received lots of online and offline orders today, as well as inquiries. The actual number of orders is far higher than what the online record shows," said online shop owner Peng Daoying.

"Some of our customers even asked for same-day delivery, which costs a bit more than the standard next-day delivery."

"We also received orders from a lot of companies, which usually lack sufficient fire protection equipment," Peng said. "All because of the big fire."

Liang Ran, a 26-year-old resident who lives on the 28th floor of a 33-story high-rise building in Changning district, said: "I cannot control my fears. To allay them, I decided to buy some basic equipment in case of a fire."

Joey Gu, an expat who has lived in Shanghai for years, said: "I already have a fire extinguisher at home. It is a practice that I picked up from my hometown, where fires occur regularly."

One of the country's leading information portals, sina.com.cn, launched an online survey about the impact of the fire. Out of 36,000 respondents, more than 70 percent expressed fear about living in high-rise buildings, while 90 percent were worried about fire safety systems in such structures.

Others expressed their doubts about the effectiveness of fire protection equipment for the home.

"Those dry powder fire extinguishers are only capable of putting out minor fires," said Peter Wang, a planning manager at a network company. "Improving fire safety systems in buildings is more important."

China Daily

(China Daily 11/18/2010 page3)