One day after the 33-storey tower of the Electricity of Vietnam Group in Cua Bac Street caught on fire, Hanoi authorities had an urgent meeting with top officials of related departments.

At the meeting, Hanoi Mayor Nguyen The Thao proposed to equip helicopters for the fire-fighting force to fight fire at high-rise buildings.

Thao questioned why the fire-fighting force did not ask assistance from the army to use their helicopters to rescue workers stuck in the fired building? 

However, both aviation and fire-fighting officials said that it is unfeasible to use helicopters in fire-fighting at high-rise buildings.

A representative from the aviation sector said that helicopters used to fight fire must meet certain technical criteria. Such helicopters are very expensive, ranging from at least $12 million to tens of millions USD.

“Private firms do not prefer this service because it is costly and the utilization is low,” he said.

In Vietnam, only two agencies offer helicopter services – the Southern and Northern Region Flight Service Corporation and the Ministry of Defense. However, the two helicopter crews are for defense, not for fire-fighting.

Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Fire-fighting Police, Le Tan Buu, said that besides finance, flight and maintenance rules, air control, pilots are also complicated. Moreover, such helicopters are not used very often so they will ruin quickly.

Colonel Nguyen Van Tuoi, from the Fire-fighting Police Agency under the Ministry of Public Security, agreed, saying that helicopters are a good fire-fighting mean but Hanoi should consider its financial capability.

Another problem for using fire-fighting helicopters is the lack of helipads. Only several high-rise buildings in Vietnam have helipads.

Vietnam used helicopters to fight some forest fires but it is difficult for helicopters to work in crowded cities like Hanoi and HCM City.

“Hanoi’s map does not include the height that allows helicopters to operate so pilots will be unable to work at night,” an official from the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam said.

One more reason, Vietnam does not regulations on the operation of rescue helicopter services. According to recent rules, it takes eight hours for a commercial flight to get approval and it is longer for a rescue flight.

Aviation officials said that to be able to use helicopters in rescue activities, Vietnam needs to have a legal system, a specialized crew which is trained and work 24/7 as firemen. Helicopters are must be also specialized.

Source: VNN