Taipei Major Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) commended the Taipei City Police and Fire departments, and metro for their prompt response to a series of random arson attacks over the weekend. The suspect was apprehended in under three hours, which Chiang said demonstrates clear results of the city’s recent emergency response drills, and improved personnel capabilities.

Taipei police and firefighters received a report just before noon on Sunday, February 8, of a fire in a men’s restroom at the city’s Da’an Forest Park MRT station. On the same day, a similar report was filed two hours later, this time at Taipei’s Shandao station, where staff had extinguished the fire. In both cases, an unknown suspect entered and set fire to debris in the men’s restroom, in a suspected arson attempt. The suspect was promptly arrested at 2:30 the same afternoon and taken in for police questioning.

Speaking on the emergency services response Monday, Mayor Chiang commended the agencies and personnel for their prompt response and arrest. He said this demonstrates the effectiveness of the emergency drills the city has conducted following the shocking metro attack on December 19 last year. Chiang said, “[Our] joint defense mechanism was activated immediately, with the suspect identified and arrested within three hours. These are the concrete results of our three recent enhanced emergency response drills and a reflection of our improved overall emergency response.”