After horrific fire took the lives of a family of four, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je calls for smoke detectors in all illegal structures
Taiwan News
Date: 2017/10/30
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In response to yesterday’s tragic fire, which killed a
family of four in a modified building, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) told the media today that he will have the fire department promote the installation of residential smoke detectors citywide, even in illegal structures, and if they fail to comply, “they should be torn down.”
Ko said that he has been informed by the fire department that many lives have been lost in illegal structures that caught fire and there were over 10,000 such structures in the city before he took office. Ko suggested this stopgap measure of installing smoke detectors in such structures, as waiting for them all to be dismantled before installing fire safety equipment leaves many exposed to the dangers of fires for years.
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