The three major fires at the end of January 2024 have touched the nerves of billions of people. On January 24th, a fire broke out on the underground floor of a shop along Jiale Garden on Tiangong South Avenue in Yushui District, Xinyu City, Jiangxi Province, resulting in 39 deaths; On January 23rd, a fire broke out at the Changqing Garden Expo Store in Yinzuo Jiayi, Changqing District, Jinan City, Shandong Province, resulting in 4 deaths, including 3 students; On January 19th, a fire broke out in a dormitory of Yingcai School in Yanshanpu Village, Dushu Town, Fangcheng County, Nanyang City, Henan Province, resulting in the death of 13 students. These three consecutive accidents have once again sounded the alarm for fire prevention and flame retardancy.

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With the rapid development of modern technology, we are surrounded by more and more flammable materials. The report of the International Fire Technical Committee shows that 70000 to 80000 people worldwide die from fires every year. It is imperative to protect the people from the threat of fire, and proactive fire prevention is more important than post fire extinguishing. The use of flame retardants in electronic appliances, transportation vehicles, furniture, and building materials can significantly improve their fire resistance performance.

Flame retardants are chemical additives added to polymer materials such as plastics to alter their flammable properties. Materials that add flame retardants are called flame retardant materials. It takes longer for flame-retardant materials to reach the ignition point, and even if burned, the speed of flame propagation is significantly reduced, giving people more escape time and firefighters more time to rush to the fire scene. Research has shown that flame retardant materials can extend people's escape time from the original 2 minutes to 20 minutes.

At the beginning of 2024, in a plane collision at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, 400 passengers were able to quickly and safely escape, and flame retardant materials played a crucial role. Aviation tools were the earliest field to apply flame retardants and flame retardant materials. It is reported that the seats, carpets, and luggage compartments on the plane are all made of flame-retardant materials, which can reduce the incidence of fires and provide passengers with a considerable escape time. It is precisely because plastic, textiles, and other materials on airplanes have strict flame retardant requirements that extend people's escape time and minimize casualties.

Give another example. Ten years ago, bus fires and arson incidents occurred frequently, and the bus fires in Chengdu, Xiamen, and Hangzhou caused significant losses to people's lives and property safety, which are still vividly remembered today. In 2019, with the implementation of the Burning Characteristics of Interior Materials for Buses, the flame retardant and fire prevention standards for buses have been significantly strengthened. Only by using flame retardants can the interior materials of buses meet the corresponding flame retardant requirements. Since the implementation of "Burning Characteristics of Bus Interior Materials" in 2020, the number of bus fires causing mass casualties has significantly decreased, thanks to the application of flame retardants and flame retardant materials.

These three fires occurred in schools, hotels, and shopping malls, all of which belong to public places, indicating that the fire prevention capacity of public places in China still needs to be strengthened. Experts call on China to quickly improve the fire prevention and flame retardant requirements for public transportation venues, accelerate the formulation and introduction of relevant standards, and implement existing standards to ensure the safety of people's lives and property and prevent tragedies from happening again.