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Hi-tech tower blaze
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A RAGING fire that gutted the offices of several Taiwanese high-tech companies -- including the island's biggest PC maker -- sparked a fierce debate about why the weekend blaze burned for 40 hours.
Some lawmakers blamed the firefighters and inadequate equipment, while others complained that the 26-story buildings' sprinkler systems were not functioning properly.
Hundreds of office workers with faces and hair covered with black ashes spent Monday morning salvaging computers and soggy documents from the cluster of burned buildings in the Eastern Science Park in a suburb of Taipei.
The fire broke out early on Saturday in the top floors of the complex, which opened seven years ago with claims of providing top-notch communication and other facilities. The complex is made up of four buildings laid out in a quadrangular design.
Firefighters thought they extinguished the blaze early on Saturday but it began burning again and was finally under control on Sunday night. No one was killed.
The structure is home to many of Taiwan's best-known high-tech firms, including one of the world's largest PC makers, the Acer Group. The company estimated its damage at 670 million Taiwan dollars (US$20.3 million).
Opposition lawmakers said the inferno was another example of government inefficiency.
“The government's emergency-handling ability is in question,'' said Lee Cheng-chung, a lawmaker of the opposition Nationalist Party. “It must be a world record that it took us 40 hours to put out a fire.''
Firefighters told reporters a malfunctioning spare power system failed to ignite the motor that was to pump water and start the building's sprinkler system. Firefighters also said they were blocked from several offices that were protected by metal security doors.
Many of the 400 firefighters had to carry heavy equipment and climb the stairs because their ladders could only reach up to the 22nd story, newspapers said.
The Fire Department said the Eastern Science Park failed to pass a fire safety inspection in March and had asked that a second inspection be extended to June, saying it needed more time to fix problems.(SD-Agencies)
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