A fire at a residential facility housing elderly and other people could easily lead to the loss of many lives. A fatal blaze in Sapporo has again shown the importance of proper fire-prevention measures.
Eleven people have died in the fire that razed the Soshiaru Haimu residential facility in the city for financially disadvantaged people. Many of the facility's 16 residents were elderly, had no close relatives and were on welfare.
The two-story wooden building was previously a Japanese-style inn. The facility was operated by a private entity that aims to help financially struggling people live independently. Each room had a kerosene heater, and a kerosene tank was reportedly kept on the first floor.
Fire extinguishers were provided on the first and second stories, but sprinklers had not been installed in the building. No staffers were stationed there at night.
Many of the residents were not very mobile. A witness said that a corridor in the facility "was so narrow that only one person at a time could pass along it." It should have been easy to imagine that a fire breaking out late at night could result in a major tragedy because residents cannot escape easily.
The Sapporo city government failed to grasp the actual nature of this residential facility.
Monthly residential fees were 36,000 yen. The facility also provided meals. It is said the city government repeatedly made inquiries to the operator because it suspected the facility of being an unregistered paid nursing home, but it received no response.
Local govts must take action
If the facility was a paid nursing home with many elderly people requiring nursing care, it would have been obligated to install sprinklers and take other steps. It is possible the operator neglected to give notification of the facility's status because of an aversion to the mounting costs these measures would entail.
A representative for the operator apologized, saying, "I feel so terribly sorry." A person connected to the facility has stressed it was "to help vulnerable people."
That said, the operator has a grave responsibility for the consequences of this fire in which many people lost their lives. It cannot be denied the facility was insufficiently equipped to accommodate elderly residents.
In 2009, 10 people died in a fire at the Seiyo Home Tamayura nursing care facility for the elderly in Shibukawa, Gunma Prefecture. In 2013, a fire at a Nagasaki group home for people with dementia claimed five lives.
Lessons learned from this string of tragedies prompted revisions to fire protection laws and regulations. Tighter criteria were introduced regarding the installation of fire alarms and sprinklers at places such as facilities for elderly people.
However, the actual situation suggests fire prevention measures are still flimsy at buildings like the facility in the latest case, which could not be definitively categorized as a boarding house or a paid nursing home for elderly people.
There is persistent demand for facilities where elderly people can stay cheaply. Government authorities need to keep an eye on such facilities as much as possible.
Their active attitude to ascertain the exact nature and condition of these facilities without waiting for notification from the operators is called for.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb. 2, 2018)
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