Iran: Who Was Responsible for the Death of Firefighters?
- Tuesday, 31 January 2017 16:19
NCRI - It has been 11 days since the calamity of Plasco (the Iconic Highrise ) collapse happened in Tehran. The truth is revealed about the suppression of firefighters by the agents of the Iranian regime at the place of the incident before they got killed by the fire.
The state-run Jahan Newspaper on of January 28th, 2017 presented shocking news about the atmosphere of intimidation and the repression of firefighters at the workplace, even in time of Plasco operations.
The newspaper wrote that 20 minutes before the collapse of Plasco the firefighters knew that the fire will cause the collapse but the Commander had not given them permission to leave the building.
The author of the article "the World of Industry" quotes a professor of the Structural Engineering Institute and writes:"1 hour after the fire, the permission has been given to the firefighters to enter the building. Which Incident Commander issues an order this much late? This is definitely a disaster.
One hour after the fire, the people had to evacuate the building no matter if the fire was extinguished or not. On the contrary, the firefighters entered the building and went to the 10th floor at that time. Certainly, the building would reach a temperature of 300 C and it would collapse then."
The author then refers to the atmosphere of intimidation and the repression of those firefighters who survived and writes:"the firefighters were forced not to talk or protest against the situation and the incident of Plasco. They talked to us stealthily and with murmurs so that they won't be reprimanded. They stopped talking to us or tried not to be identified as soon as they saw people staring at them. Even one of the firefighter told us that on the day of the incident, they were given a sheet that was a request to the City Council in order to include the firefighting as one of the hardest and most harmful jobs. The firefighters had to sign the paper but some of them did not sign it in the fear of losing their job. They cannot defend their rights and demands, as they claimed."
Jahan Newspaper in this report writes:"a few firefighters that were busy in debris removal operations left the place of incident. I was in front of the front door and I did not yet enter. I started to speak with one of them about the debris removal. One of them who had a mask on face called me. He asked if I am a reporter and I approved. He suddenly began to slam recklessly. He softly whispered into my ears and stopped talking as soon as an agent came. I even did not turn to see him. I could just hear his exhausted voice."
This firefighter said:"the deputy of operations and the director of the inspection put the firefighters to death." and I suddenly become frozen." they did not let the firefighters leave the building as the fire was reaching top floors." All of them were trained in England. A lot of money was spent on them but they could not manage the fire yet."
The firefighter continued:"our colleagues were killed. You know how much is every firefighter worth? They make a lot of effort in training in order to be professional firefighters.16 colleagues of mine were killed. We have been asked that why we don't protest against our situation or why we don't talk. Well, I must say that 300 of our firefighters protested in front of the fire department as well as the City Council against the problems and the low salaries in December 2015. Nevertheless, they were reprimanded by the fire department one by one."
One of the firefighters who protested and got fired by the fire department in a video clip revealed the facts about the repression in the fire department as well as the incident of Plasco. He said:"they claimed that the gasoline tank exploded. Which gasoline tank are they talking about? The gasoline does not have an explosion point and even if it had, the irons should have been melted soon. Why do you lie to people? If the firefighters had not gone to the upper floors, they would have certainly been reprimanded. One of the firefighters named Safizadeh that got killed in the Plasco incident was warning into the walkie-talkie that: "do not send anyone to top floors and help us instead". All those poor young firefighters remained under the rubbles because the stupid Supreme Leader of Iran does not give flight permission in that area. Our colleagues went into the fire so that they won't be reprimanded."
