The Plasco Incident in a Capital with Only '120 Safe Buildings'

From the early hours following the fire and collapse of the Plasco building on Thursday, the Tehran Municipality released documents related to safety warnings issued to the owners of Plasco in 2014 and 2015. This warning cites Clause 14 of Article 55 of the Municipal Law, indicating the municipality's obligation to take necessary actions to eliminate danger and prevent potential incidents in the Plasco building. In this regard, Mohsen Pirhadi, a member of the Tehran City Council, stated in an interview with Iranian television: 'We had warned the Plasco authorities seven times, and fire safety warnings had been issued to 40% of the commercial units in the area.' Masoumeh Abad, head of the Safety Committee of the Tehran City Council, also mentioned that the Fire Department sent a copy of the warning to the judiciary to take action against unsafe buildings, but recently the judiciary stated in a letter to the Fire Department that its letters have no enforceable guarantees and only add to the judiciary's workload. Mehdi Chamran, head of the Tehran Council, also said that the judiciary should have acted, but dealing with hundreds of units in this building would have other consequences. Ali Saberi, a legal expert and member of the Tehran City Council, commented on Article 55 of the Municipal Law, which municipal officials believe prevents urban management representatives from sealing buildings or obtaining judicial orders for that purpose, saying: 'Firstly, Article 55 has this potential; secondly, if it does not have this potential, who should propose its amendment? Why should we wait for an incident to occur and then think about amending the law?' Mohsen Pirhadi, another member of the Tehran City Council, also stated that 'for buildings constructed before 1976, there is no need for a completion certificate, and the parliament should legislate on this matter.' According to studies by the Fire Department, which ranked Tehran's buildings based on their safety and resistance to natural disasters, there are currently only 120 safe buildings in the capital. Of these, only two buildings have received a grade of 1, while the rest are rated 2 and 3 in terms of safety, and none have received an excellent grade. Most unsafe buildings, which scored less than 50 out of 100, include residential towers and buildings over four stories, which, unlike shorter buildings, are highly sensitive to natural disasters, yet lack basic emergency response facilities. In this context, the death of 16 firefighters in the Plasco incident was confirmed; '25 people are trapped under the rubble.' On the third day after the Plasco fire: 'Frequencies have been recorded from under the rubble.' The Red Crescent's deputy stated that there is no clue about those trapped under the rubble of the Plasco building. A representative from Tehran said: 'The Plasco incident was predictable; the municipality must be held accountable.' The Plasco building in Tehran collapsed; 'at least 20 firefighters have lost their lives.'