Comment on "Chinese city to buy fire truck with powerful hose" (Nov 17, China Daily website)

I mourn the death of people in the recent Shanghai blaze. To avoid such tragedies, I suggest that all major cities in China with high-rise buildings use helicopters equipped with water tanks to douse fires. Many countries have been using helicopters to fight forest fires, and China can do it, too, to fight fires in tall buildings.

I have seen fire-escape routes in high-rise university dormitories blocked or made hazardous by the dumping of unused furniture in the passages.

But I hope the Shanghai fire would teach managers of university dormitories a lesson. They have to take measures such as providing fire-fighting equipment and holding mandatory fire drills to prepare people to react timely to emergencies.

B.S. Goh, on China Daily website

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(China Daily 11/23/2010 page9)