Fire Department Found Responsible for Fire Incident on Jomhouri Street

A year and a half after the fire incident on Jomhouri Street in Tehran, a member of the Tehran City Council announced that based on the 'expert opinion of the court,' the city's fire department has been deemed 'responsible' for the fire that resulted in the deaths of two female workers in January 2014. According to Mehr News Agency, Fatemeh Daneshvar, a member of the Tehran City Council, stated in a session on Tuesday, June 9, that 'according to the latest information and the court's expert opinion... the fire department has been found responsible, and the reason is the user's lack of skill in using the equipment.' She added, 'Correspondence from experts with the equipment manufacturer shows that the fire department did not utilize after-sales services, and the user of this device lacked adequate training and skills, and the mattress was not used in time.' Meanwhile, Masoumeh Abad, head of the Safety Committee of the Tehran City Council, emphasized that 'the person who was operating the ladder was actually the operator of the lift, not the ladder.' Following the fire in a commercial building on Jomhouri Street in Tehran on Sunday, January 19, 2014, two female workers named Nasrin Foroutani and Azar Haqnezari fell to their deaths after hanging from the building's windows to escape the flames. At that time, Jalal Maleki, spokesman for the fire department, announced that one of the hydraulic fire ladders did not deploy due to 'technical issues with the computer parts.' The Tehran Municipality's Inspection Organization also reported that 'the non-operation of the first ladder and the congestion at the scene' were responsible for the deaths of the two female workers in the Jomhouri Street fire. However, the Tehran fire department did not mention the failure of this ladder in its report to the Tehran Municipality regarding the incident. The organization emphasized that 'the panic' of these two women caused them to exit through the window, ultimately leading to their deaths, while firefighters rescued two women and three other men trapped in the workshop just seconds after their fall. The families of the deceased protested the reports from the Inspection Organization and the fire department, calling them 'one-sided.' Meanwhile, Mohsen Akbarzadeh, son of Azar Haqnezari, questioned, 'Why did the fire department not have a proper ladder and rescue mattress? Why did they not know how to properly spray water in a sensitive situation like this incident?' After the fire incident on Jomhouri Street, several members of the Tehran City Council called for an increase in fire department capabilities. The Tehran City Council also approved a bill on Tuesday for 'updating the equipment and facilities of the fire department and safety services and enhancing the level of training' without specifying budgets and figures. According to Rahmatollah Hafezi, head of the Health Committee of the Tehran City Council, it is estimated that 551 billion tomans are needed for this bill, which should be provided in the second five-year plan of the Tehran Municipality. Mr. Hafezi also emphasized that out of 141 fire vehicles, 56 are outdated or decommissioned, and 84 are operational.