apt neighbor props fire doors open

[Eiger John]

I thought this is an interesting enough problem with enough universal appeal that I had a Taiwan lawyer colleague look up some more on this issue. Here's what he's come back with:

1. Authority in Charge: The name of the agency in charge of the issue varies in different city or county, such as the "Building Administration Office" in Taipei City and the "Public Works Bureau, House Use Management Section" in Taipei County, but all of them are related to building administration instead of fire department. Note that the fire department will do annual checks for certain buildings or community and will focus more on fire prevention related matters. For cases involving facilities safety, they will only transfer the case to one of the aforementioned building administration agencies, which will send its staff to check and give a notice or even a fine for people violating the laws.

2. The way to report the matter: the various government departments have combined their reporting system, so no matter where he or she is, just simply call 1999 to report the matter. The government will pass the report to the official in charge for action.

Now, one might dance a bit around the idea of one's relationships with the neighbors, but in the end the only way to get them to change their behavior will likely be the threat of a fine.

[shawn_c]

I'm digging up an old topic here... but... this is the situation I face right now! My concern, however, is not any dog's barking or noise, but the fire safety aspect.

JimmyTheSaint, what did you end up doing? It's been two years! Come back and tell us!

sulavaca, I totally, totally agree with all you've said. You've got it right. At the same time, I think it also all depends on what "class" of people are your neighbours! Where do you live? Taipei City or New Taipei? There's at least a slight difference in the "quality" of the people...

urodacus, welding the doors shut is a great idea. The people want to die in the even of a fire, anyway, why not hasten that?

So, my wife and I just moved to a 13-storey building in Tamsui, and we live on the 10th floor. I noticed that from floors 2 to 5, all the fire escape doors were propped open (tells you something about the quality of those who choose such low floors...). So, I closed them (as sandman suggested)... and now, they're open again. Douches! If I keep closing them, I'm sure they'll just keep popping open again. However, that is the action I'm currently going to take, as the building management told me "mei ban fa"...

I also went up to the roof and discovered that the doors to the roof were wide open AND someone was growing rice in a big pot in the stairwell leading to the roof. I moved all the bricks that were propping those doors open...

I was seriously thinking of welding, well, at least screwing the doors shut! Or maybe... putting something really disgustingly stinky in the stairwell, in order to "encourage" people to close the fire escape doors. My other thought was... why don't I just open all the tiny windows in the stairwell, including propping open the roof doors, which... would make it like an outside fire escape (like in New York)? Would that work? There is no active smoke venting in the stairwell, anyway.

Has anyone thought of any solutions?! At least, I don't have the problem of piles of garbage in the stairwells like sulavaca...

[Confuzius]

I think everytime they are open...just go close them.

Whatever he props them open with...take.

Make it MORE of a headache for him to open them than to keep the closed. Taiwan is a SUPER 方便 (convenience) culture-when something becomes a hassle people throw their arms up in the air and just say "fuck it". Right now, its totally convenient for him to just open the, make it a hassle and he will stop.

[Teddoman]

Maybe you should put up a sign on all the doors, though, explaining the fire safety issue. Otherwise, people will just think there's an annoying prick in the building who keeps stealing the door props for no reason.

Maybe you can even make it seem like the sign comes from building management and make it look super official. That would be slightly clever. The management people might even assume it was put up by one of the other managers

[Belgian Pie]

Our fire doors from basement to 14F are all open, no one, even the fire inspectors seem to have a clue that the doors are actually 'fire doors' ... anyways, every 2 years or so a fire inspector comes along and tapes-off, signs-off on all the fire equipment and before they come, the building management requires all crap in the stairwell to be removed, stuff that later on gradually and magically will reappear ... this year the management has had stuff removed by the security guards, probably things 'forgotten' by people that moved out ... i got myself a nice 46 l Igloo ice box that was left out that no one claimed ...

[shawn_c]

All the doors have those hydraulic arms on them that force them shut... but also have the added convenience of keeping the doors open when swung open wide enough. The arm also serves as a convenient place to hang your rain coats. I was thinking... if I removed the hydraulic arm, the door would just swing aimlessly... got to see if I can make it so it's super hard to swing open... "inconvenient" to open, if you like!!

There are tiny-ass stickers from the city government saying to keep the doors shut for safety. I think I need to print out photos of people dying from smoke inhalation, and paste them on the fire doors.

The good news is that since I closed the doors on Floor 2 to Floor 5... only the pricks on Floors 2 and 3 bother to open them up again, each and every day. Good news is that there isn't much kept in the stairwells... aside from some shoes.

I really need to leave a rotten sandwich in the stairwell between floors 2 and 3... let them have the aroma and the flies...

I don't get why Taiwan just doesn't build outdoor fire stairs like in New York?! That makes much more sense, and would probably be cheaper, too.

[shawn_c]

Our fire doors from basement to 14F are all open, no one, even the fire inspectors seem to have a clue that the doors are actually 'fire doors' ... anyways, every 2 years or so a fire inspector comes along and tapes-off, signs-off on all the fire equipment and before they come, the building management requires all crap in the stairwell to be removed, stuff that later on gradually and magically will reappear ... this year the management has had stuff removed by the security guards, probably things 'forgotten' by people that moved out ... i got myself a nice 46 l Igloo ice box that was left out that no one claimed ...

That's Taiwan for ya! The "inspector" notifies you when he's coming to check, so that you can make the appropriate preparations (much like how the police advertise where they are with their lights!) - my English school had a glass room that would not pass fire inspection... so... they just removed it before the inspector came... and put it back later.