Workshop should be near populated areas?

recently we had the worst fire incident in the maldives with a lot of houses catching fire.the fire initiated from a workshop but the houses that were burnt paid the price. there had been calls to shift this workshops away from the populated areas. some suggest to take it to thilafushi some suggest to take it to the unpopulated areas like they did to gas stations. but majority do agree that those places should be taken away from the populated areas http://www.haveeru.com.mv/poll.php . but taking it away from the populated areas wont get rid of the threat of fire.