Gwangju Fire Headquarters, Comprehensive Review of Winter Fire Safety Measures

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] The Gwangju Metropolitan City Fire Safety Headquarters has taken steps to strengthen safety measures to prevent recurrence, including a comprehensive review of the ongoing winter fire safety measures, following the motel fire that occurred on the 22nd of last month in Duam-dong, Buk-gu.

According to Gwangju City on the 5th, the city plans to prevent multiple casualties caused by fires, strengthen continuous management and supervision, block potential risks through proactive preventive activities, and raise safety awareness among related parties through guidance on evacuation methods according to building types and safety education.

First, the city will focus on inspecting fire safety facilities and evacuation facilities in lodging facilities, obstetrics and gynecology clinics, and goshiwons, and will impose strong administrative measures such as fines for serious violations.

Additionally, the city will ▲conduct joint special fire inspections with related agencies targeting traditional markets and vulnerable sites ▲establish a fire prevention council centered on fire stations, district offices, electricity, gas, and merchant associations ▲operate a fire safety diagnosis team involving related personnel and fire officials to remove fire vulnerabilities in advance and raise fire awareness.

The city will investigate the status of new types of multi-use establishments in fire blind spots, such as escape room cafes and movie rooms, create management cards, guide the installation of safety facilities in accordance with multi-use establishment laws, and strengthen management including conducting fire drills.

The Fire Safety Headquarters will continue to conduct surprise inspections until unsafe practices such as blocking or closing emergency exits are completely eradicated.

Along with this, the city plans to request the National Fire Agency to improve the system to mandate the installation of sprinklers in lodging facilities. Under current laws, sprinklers are only required for buildings with six or more floors, basements, windowless floors, or floors of 4 or more stories with a floor area of 1000㎡ or more.

Although the fire was arson-related, the reason for requesting system improvement is the judgment that if sprinklers had been installed, the fire could have been extinguished internally before spreading to other rooms, preventing casualties.

Also, in case of fire, the basic principle is to close the door and evacuate first to the ground or rooftop, and if evacuation is impossible, calmly inform your location until 119 arrives. The fire department is also conducting a ‘Evacuate First When Fire Occurs’ campaign based on this principle.

Hwang Gi-seok, head of the city’s Fire Safety Headquarters, said, “Until now, fire safety measures have mainly focused on safety consulting such as preventive guidance to minimize inconvenience to citizens,” and added, “We will strive to take responsibility for citizens’ safety to prevent recurrence of casualties caused by fires such as arson.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.