The fire drill tragedy that claimed a life and injured another 10 at Rajavinit Mathayom School in Dusit district on Friday is not just a one-off mishap.
The fatal accident that ironically occurred during a routine fire drill can be blamed on a lack of resources and corruption that has crippled City Hall's fire prevention responsibilities.
So far, three officials have been charged with negligence after a faulty fire extinguisher exploded when safety officials from the Sam Sen disaster prevention and mitigation office demonstrated to students how to use firefighting equipment. An 18-year-old male student was killed, and 10 injured people reportedly remain in serious condition.
While the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) must provide sufficient compensation to the victims' families and conduct a probe to make those responsible accountable, the question is: How many substandard fire extinguishers, like the one that exploded, remain in use? Over the past decade, the BMA has purchased thousands of portable fire extinguishers and distributed them to communities and public buildings across the capital.
The BMA has blamed high temperatures for the accident on Friday, but a report yesterday from the Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) has said otherwise. According to TISI secretary-general Banjong Sukreeta, the fire extinguisher that exploded was a low-capacity model that did not have TISI's quality control guarantee. Fire extinguishers are controlled items, and according to the law, only products that have certified production will receive TISI certificates.
It begs the question of why BMA bought substandard equipment.
It can't be helped that critics are suspicious of how the BMA goes about procurement, with City Hall facing corruption charges for fire equipment purchases in the past.
The most notorious cases were a 6.7-billion-baht procurement of 315 fire trucks and 30 fire boats in 2004 and 20 mini-fire trucks that cost 158 million baht in 2015.
For fire extinguishers, former Pheu Thai MP Promphong Nopparit asked the Department of Special Investigation in 2013 to inspect the deal in which BMA paid 124 million baht to procure 95,797 portable fire extinguishers from a dubious factory. The probe request came after reports of accidents.
That year, an initial parliamentary sub-committee on corruption also found that the factory imported 60,000 fire extinguishers from China to sell to BMA.
It is a pity the DSI did not pursue the case to the end.
More concerning is that BMA did not run safety tests during the past few years on the 90,000 -plus fire extinguishers it had bought.
After last week's fatal accident, the BMA is now reportedly tracking down all fire extinguishers in the city while the public is being encouraged to report dubious fire extinguishers through the online complaint site Traffy Fondue.
But the BMA must not just be content with following online complaints.
The City Hall and the Bangkok governor must thoroughly run safety tests on the thousands of fire distinguishers installed in communities and ensure old and substandard ones are discarded. If not, the fire safety equipment that should provide safety and protect life will become harmful objects.
The tragic accident last week has already given us a warning.
