Warehouses are the highest fire-risk facilities in logistics — dense cargo, forklifts running continuously, lithium batteries and chemicals mixed into ordinary goods — and they have faced the strictest fire inspection regime since the Law on Fire Prevention, Fighting and Rescue 55/2024/QH15 took effect on 1 July 2025. Fire compliance for a warehouse is no longer ‘a few extinguishers on the wall’: it is a chain from design appraisal and acceptance testing to fire plans and compulsory fire insurance.
Must a dangerous-goods warehouse pass fire design appraisal
Facilities on the fire-management list — including warehouses storing fire-and-explosion-dangerous goods and warehouses whose scale and character fall in the prescribed categories — must have their fire protection design appraised before construction and pass fire acceptance testing before being put into use, under Law 55/2024/QH15 and guiding Decree 105/2025/ND-CP. Appraisal examines the features that decide warehouse safety: safety distances, fire compartmentation, escape routes, automatic detection and suppression systems, firefighting water supply and fire-truck access. Building or renovating a listed warehouse without appraisal risks construction suspension and refusal of operating acceptance.
Landlord or tenant: who bears fire responsibility
Fire responsibility sits first with the facility’s head and the party directly managing and using the warehouse — in a lease, the operating tenant must run day-to-day fire compliance: internal rules, the firefighting plan, the on-site force, system inspection and maintenance. The landlord answers for the infrastructure it owns and warrants in the lease — the appraised, accepted condition of the fire systems at handover. The lease should draw this boundary expressly, with coordination for drills and cost sharing for common systems; when a fire occurs, authorities weigh responsibility under fire law, the lease allocation and actual management alike.
Must a warehouse buy compulsory fire insurance
Facilities on the fire-and-explosion danger list must buy compulsory fire and explosion insurance — cargo warehouses in these groups are the typical case — under the fire-law and insurance framework, with Decree 105/2025/ND-CP setting the facility list and related content in the new guiding system. Premiums and cover follow the compulsory fire insurance tariff and rules; insurers may inspect the facility’s safety conditions and refuse or adjust cover where fire conditions are not maintained. Skipping compulsory insurance draws administrative penalties, and far more importantly: in a real fire, the entire loss of many owners’ cargo lands on the warehouse operator without insurance and risk-allocation clauses in the storage contracts.
Preparing the warehouse fire file before inspection
A periodic or surprise fire inspection reviews a predictable file: the design appraisal and fire acceptance documents for the building; the approved firefighting plan and periodic drill records; logs of inspection and maintenance for detection and suppression systems; the on-site fire force’s records and training certificates; internal rules, signage and dangerous-goods management files where relevant. A genuinely compliant warehouse maintains this file monthly rather than assembling it the week before inspection — and a clean inspection record is also the document insurers and major customers demand when vetting a warehouse partner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Must a dangerous-goods warehouse pass fire design appraisal?
Yes, if it falls in the categories requiring fire design appraisal and acceptance — warehouses storing fire-and-explosion-dangerous goods are the typical case — under Law 55/2024/QH15 and Decree 105/2025/ND-CP. Appraisal happens before construction and acceptance before the warehouse is used.
Who bears fire responsibility: warehouse owner or tenant?
Primary responsibility sits with the party directly managing and using the warehouse — the operating tenant runs daily fire compliance, the firefighting plan and the on-site force. The owner answers for infrastructure and fire systems it owns as warranted at handover; the lease should draw this boundary expressly.
Must warehouses buy compulsory fire insurance?
Facilities on the fire-and-explosion danger list — including many warehouse types — must buy compulsory fire and explosion insurance under the fire-law framework and guidance in Decree 105/2025/ND-CP. Not buying it draws administrative penalties, and in a real fire the operator carries the loss alone without insurance and risk-allocation clauses.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council