Fire Agency Completes Fire Safety Inspections at Over 17,300 Voting and Ballot Counting Sites Nationwide

336 Fire Trucks and 1,188 Firefighters Deployed at Vote Counting Centers

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The National Fire Agency announced on the 13th that it has conducted fire safety inspections at 17,335 polling and vote-counting stations nationwide (including early voting stations) in preparation for the 21st National Assembly elections to be held on the 15th, and has completed improvements at 484 locations (2.8%) that required corrections.

The inspections were carried out over 11 days from the 23rd of last month to the 2nd of this month by 3,197 inspection teams from 1,469 fire stations nationwide, and fixed-assigned fire officers inspected special early voting stations within residential treatment centers.

As a result of the inspections, 97.2% (16,851 locations) of the nationwide polling and vote-counting stations were found to be in good condition, but 500 issues requiring improvement were identified at 2.8% (484 locations). The main issues pointed out included malfunctioning fire doors, absence of fire extinguishers, faulty backup power for fire alarm receivers, inadequate fire hose connections, malfunctioning guide lights, and defective emergency broadcast system interlocks.

The National Fire Agency issued correction orders for 130 of the 500 issues and completed improvements on 359 minor violations through on-site corrective actions. The remaining 11 cases were reported to the relevant authorities for further action.

Meanwhile, fire stations nationwide have been conducting special alert duty from the 9th until the vote counting concludes on the 15th. Additionally, 336 fire trucks and 1,188 fire officers have been deployed forward inside and outside 251 vote-counting stations in cooperation with the Central Election Commission, maintaining an emergency communication system with related agencies such as the election commission and police.

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