Han Sang-hoon and Police Inspector Park Kang-hak Who Rescued Lives at Fire Scene Receive 'LG Hero Award'

Mr. Han Sang-hoon, who rescued three residents with a ladder truck at an apartment fire scene in Gunpo-si, Gyeonggi-do earlier this month and received the LG Hero Award

[Photo by LG Welfare Foundation]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] LG Welfare Foundation announced on the 15th that it awarded the ‘LG Hero Award’ to Sang-hoon Han (28), who rescued three residents with a ladder truck at an apartment fire scene in Gunpo-si, Gyeonggi-do earlier this month, and to Gang-hak Park, Superintendent (57) of the Busan Gangseo Police Station, who saved a citizen from an overturned burning vehicle.

Han, who operates a ladder truck company, was waiting in the parking lot of an apartment in Gunpo-si, Gyeonggi-do around 4:30 p.m. on the 1st of this month to transport interior materials when he witnessed an explosion and flames rising from the 12th floor under construction.

The fire spread rapidly with the explosion, and shards of glass debris fell dangerously to the ground. However, upon hearing a resident shouting "Help me" from the balcony railing of the neighboring unit where the fire broke out, Han operated his ladder truck without hesitation and safely rescued the resident.

He then spotted two students sending out a rescue request from the 15th floor. When the ladder truck could not reach the 15th floor, Han risked damaging the ladder truck by releasing the safety device that limits the working height and successfully rescued the students.

Han calmly said, "Once I heard the cries for help, I could only think about saving lives first," adding, "I actually feel sorry that I couldn’t save more people."

Detecting a vehicle fire on his way home and rescuing the driver who had collapsed inside the car, Park Kang-hak, Superintendent of Busan Gangseo Police Station, was awarded the LG Hero Award.

[Photo by LG Welfare Foundation]

Superintendent Park, who also received the Hero Award alongside Han, witnessed a vehicle crash into the central divider and overturn, catching fire in Myeongji-dong, Gangseo-gu, Busan around 11 p.m. on the same day while on his way home from work. Park immediately took a fire extinguisher from his car trunk and began extinguishing the flames rising from the engine compartment, then found the driver collapsed inside the vehicle.

In the cramped space inside the car, Park barely opened the driver’s door by kicking it to pull out the unconscious driver, who was larger than himself, and rescued him by pulling his legs. About 10 seconds after Park rescued the driver from the vehicle, the car exploded loudly and was completely destroyed by fire.

An LG official stated, "This award was given to encourage the courageous actions of citizens who willingly stepped forward to save neighbors they did not even know in a critical fire situation."

The LG Hero Award was established in 2015 reflecting the late Chairman Koo Bon-moo’s will that "the company repays its social responsibility to heroes who sacrifice themselves for the nation and social justice." Since Chairman Koo Kwang-mo’s inauguration, the scope of recipients has been expanded to include ordinary citizens who have performed exemplary acts and volunteer work in society. To date, a total of 138 people have received the LG Hero Award.

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