Two massive fires were sparked in Ho Chi Minh City near dawn on Jan 1, 2010, burning hundreds of square metres and other assets. At least 2 people were injured and 1 person has been taken into police custody for investigation.
A bottle store in HCMC after the fire
The fire started at around 23:40 PM on December 31, 2009 at a store that purchases wasted materials. The store, owned by Vu Van Don, is located at No.193, 1A Highway, 5 Ward, Tam Binh Commune, Thu Duc District.
At the time the fires occurred, Don was having a drink with his friend, named Binh and they started quarrelling. Binh became extremely agitated and he started to set fire to materials in the store which quickly burst into flames and began spreading rapidly through the store.
It took 3 fire trucks, 1 water pump and about 20 firefighters, but they managed to put the flames out quickly.
Luckily, there was no loss of life, however, the fire destroyed and burned an area of 70m2 in this store, 2,200 soft tanks to put fruits, some other equipment and 55 million dong.
Authorities are currently investigating the cause of the fire
Shortly after the first fire, at around 1:15 AM another fire was started at a bottle store owned by Ton Nu Thuy Huong, at 87/92C Dinh Tien Hoang, 3 Commune, Binh Thanh District.
The fire appears to have come from cigarette ashes dropped by workers in the store. The fire was smoldering and spread quickly through the house.
4 fire trucks, 1 water pump and about 30 firefighters were sent to the scene and contained the fire, successfully preventing it from doing even more damage.
Two people were injured, Lieu Da Ra (20) and Lieu Minh Giang (22). About a half of the store was badly burned along with 3 motorbikes.