Four people on Wednesday were killed in a fire at a COVID-19 quarantine hotel in Changhua County, including a firefighter who died after their oxygen tank ran out while sheltering in a bathroom in the burning facility, the Changhua Fire Bureau said yesterday.
The fire broke out at 7:52pm on the second floor of the 15-story Chiaoyu Building, the bureau said, adding that the flames spread rapidly and filled the structure with smoke, trapping 31 people.
The former department store, housing the hotel on the seventh to ninth floors, is considered a local landmark.
Photo: Tang Shih-ming, Taipei Times
The bureau scrambled 166 firefighters and 58 trucks, the bureau said.
Heat, thick smoke, darkness and the facility’s complex interiors made the firefighting operation difficult, the bureau said, adding that it took nine hours to put out the blaze.
The last survivor trapped inside the building was evacuated at 3:50am yesterday, the Changhua County Government said, adding that first responders had quickly established a list of people suspected to be inside the building.
Those were 27 people under mandatory quarantine, two staying at the hotel while monitoring their health, as well as two hotel employees, it added.
Hotel owner Tsai Chin-feng (蔡進峰) said that two floors in the building were vacant and used for storing carpets left behind by a former occupant who ran an entertainment business in the building.
The structure was opened in 1993, initially housing a shopping center and a video arcade, but fire hazards reported over the past few years led to many occupants leaving the site.
Tsai said that he had renovated the seventh to ninth floors to run a hotel with 74 rooms, in the past few months housing people under mandatory quarantine.
When the fire alarm rang on Wednesday night, Tsai ordered staff to check every floor and told guests to stay inside their rooms until firefighters arrived, he said.
Leaving the building to get an overview of the situation, Tsai saw smoke coming from the second floor, he said, adding that he helped some guests leave the building via emergency stairs filled with thick smoke.
The Ministry of the Interior said that an investigation has been opened into the fire, adding that one injured firefighter has been transferred from a local hospital’s intensive care unit to a general ward.
National Fire Agency Deputy Director-General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章) has traveled to Changhua to learn about the incident and give condolences to the dead firefighter’s family, the ministry said.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is Central Epidemic Command Center spokesman, said that people who leave their mandatory quarantine in the case of a fire at a centralized facility would not be fined for doing so.
Additional reporting by Chien Hui-ju
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military