Mandatory fire extinguishers for license renewals push up prices

Vehicle owners said the directive requiring drivers to have a fire extinguisher when renewing their vehicle licenses has led to a surge in sales and prices of the fire extinguisher in the market.

“I’m searching for the fire extinguishers. Some shops are out of stock. Some shops are charging 60,000 kyats for 1 kg. Previously, the maximum price of 1 kg fire extinguisher in the car was only 35,000 kyats,” said a vehicle owner.

The directive requiring drivers to have a fire extinguisher when renewing their vehicle licenses has been in place for a long time, but since the number of vehicle fires has been increasing, it has been re-imposed on vehicles that are renewing their licenses starting from Monday.

“It has been a requirement for a fire extinguisher to be carried. Both large cars and passenger cars. Large cars cannot be renewed the license without the fire extinguisher. Small cars can be renewed their license despite the previous directive. Small cars can only be renewed their license if only a fire extinguisher is kept in the car according to the directive from Monday,” said a service provider who renewed the vehicle license.

The directive of the Road Transport Administration Department also states that in order to prevent deaths and damage to vehicles and property due to fire, vehicles must be equipped with at least one dry chemical powder fire extinguisher according to the type of vehicle and that a notice will be issued to check whether the fire extinguisher is installed during vehicle inspections.

The amount of fire extinguishers to be carried by vehicle type is 1 kg for passenger cars and pickups, 2 kg for minibuses and light trucks, 3 kg for trucks and vans, two 3 kg for buses.

Currently, vehicle fires are continuing to occur, and on January 22, a car caught fire in Hlegu Township on the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway.

Similarly, in the past few days, some vehicles driving in Yangon have caught fire.