Seiji Umezawa, Atsuhito Takahashi and Yasushi Kaneko – The Daily Yomiuri

A group home where three mentally disabled people were killed in a fire Monday in Ayase, Kanagawa Prefecture, did not have a fire alarm or sprinkler system installed.

The blaze has highlighted the lack of rules stipulating the types of fire-prevention and warning devices such centers must have.

The destroyed Haimu Himawari facility, which was home to seven mentally impaired people, was approved as a group home and a care home by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. The facility was therefore legally regarded as a cooperative residence, where mentally disabled people live while receiving care and assistance, and not categorized as a welfare facility under the legislation known as the law to help disabled people to become independent.

The Fire Defense Law stipulates that welfare facilities bigger than a set size must be equipped with automatic fire alarms that can detect fire and smoke, as well as other safety devices.

An official of the Kanagawa prefectural government’s welfare division for people with disabilities said, “Haimu Himawari was categorized as an ordinary house, so it wasn’t required to have fire alarms and other devices.”

The Fire Defense Law requires all houses, including family homes, built after June 1 to be equipped with a fire alarm, while houses constructed before that date will be required to fit an alarm at a future date set by each municipal government.

However, no municipal government in Kanagawa Prefecture has introduced an ordinance requiring houses to be equipped with a fire alarm.

In addition, most fire alarms merely emit a loud buzz, so mentally or physically disabled people at a facilities such as Haimu Himawari might not promptly react to the warning and escape.

A Fire and Disaster Management Agency official said, “We believe that as long as a house is, in effect, used as a social welfare facility, it must follow regulations, regardless of the views of the Kanagawa prefectural government and the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.”

The agency dispatched an official to the site in Ayase to investigate the facility, which was destroyed in the fire.

In April, revised enforcement orders will come into effect, which will mean that small social welfare facilities, such as Haimu Himawari, will have to comply with new regulations.

Such facilities are subject to few regulations, but in January 2006, a fire in Omura, Nagasaki Prefecture, prompted discussion on changes to the law.

In the blaze, seven elderly residents of the house who suffered from dementia died and their 280-square-meter residence, which was not fitted with a fire alarm or sprinkler system, was destroyed.

In response to the incident, the agency and social welfare services and the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry drew up revised enforcement orders in June last year.

The revised orders, which will come into effect in April, demand that all social welfare facilities be equipped with fire alarms and systems that can automatically report a fire to a local fire department.

Sprinklers are required to be installed at most facilities of 275 square meters or more.

However, because installing the equipment costs about 3 million yen, the revised orders will not be enforced for three years at existing facilities.

Haimu Himawari will be subject to the revised orders, according to the Kanagawa prefectural government.

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