Gwangju Fire Safety Headquarters Implements Measures to Reduce Casualties in Residential Fires

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] The Gwangju Metropolitan Fire Safety Headquarters announced on the 22nd that it will implement a comprehensive plan to reduce casualties from residential fires by 50% by 2024.

Among the 2,586 fires that occurred in the Gwangju area over the past three years (2018-2020), residential fires accounted for only 15.9% (411 cases), but deaths accounted for 28.6% (6 out of 21), indicating a high rate of casualties relative to the number of fires.

The high casualty rate in residential fires is due to residents not recognizing the fire at night or the lack of facilities to extinguish the fire in its early stages. In particular, elderly and disabled individuals have difficulty evacuating, leading to increased casualties.

The goal of this plan is to secure the safety of residences, which are blind spots in fire safety, and reduce the annual average number of residential fire deaths in Gwangju from the current 2.2 to 1, a 50% decrease.

The detailed implementation plan includes strengthening management in densely populated residential areas, establishing a database of residences of disabled persons and enhancing rescue capabilities, and expanding promotion and distribution of residential fire safety equipment.

First, a systematic fire safety system will be established through integrated management of residential vulnerable areas such as areas inaccessible to fire trucks, remote natural villages, and redevelopment zones.

In the event of a residential fire, the rescue capabilities of the first-arriving fire suppression team will be strengthened to focus on early rescue efforts. In particular, residences of disabled persons who have difficulty evacuating independently will be databased to provide rescue information to dispatch teams at the early stages of a fire.

Promotion of residential fire safety equipment will be strengthened to inform the general public about its necessity, and the distribution project will be expanded to increase the installation rate concurrently.

Kim Young-don, Director of the City Fire Prevention Division, said, “We will start a comprehensive and long-term plan to reduce casualties from residential fires,” adding, “The interest and cooperation of citizens are absolutely necessary to create a safe living environment.”

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