Unending Fire Accidents... Temporary Fixes Cannot Prevent Them

Fire Hydrants and Firewalls Failed During Namyangju Mixed-Use Apartment Fire
Residents Reported Sprinklers Also Did Not Work
Blind Spot Management Still Inadequate in Jecheon Sports Center, Miryang Sejong Hospital, and Icheon Logistics Warehouse Fires
Experts Say "Blind Spots Persist... Proper Safety Inspections Must Be Conducted"

On the 12th, at the site of a fire in a mixed-use apartment complex in Namyangju-si, Gyeonggi-do, a joint inspection team is moving a drone inside the building.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Choyoung] On the 10th, a fire broke out at a mixed-use apartment complex in Namyangju-si, Gyeonggi-do, resulting in 41 injuries and the destruction of about 180 stores. Controversy has arisen as closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage confirmed that firefighting facilities such as fire hydrants and firewalls did not function properly at the time.

Residents present at the scene testified that the sprinklers also did not operate, putting the building's firefighting facilities under scrutiny. Although laws have been repeatedly amended following fire accidents, there are criticisms that patchwork measures are insufficient to prevent such incidents.

The current Fire Services Act mandates the installation of sprinklers in apartments with six or more floors. When the law was first amended in 1992, it applied to buildings with 16 or more floors, was revised in 2005 to cover 11 or more floors, and further amended in 2018 to include buildings with six or more floors. Although regulations have gradually tightened through these amendments, the lack of retroactive application has left blind spots.

In March, a fire at an apartment in Jeongneung-dong injured nine people, and it was pointed out that the firefighting facilities were inadequate due to the absence of sprinklers. However, this apartment was not required to have sprinklers installed, as it received its building permit before the 2005 amendment. This 15-floor apartment was constructed prior to the law change. Such buildings permitted before amendments often lack sprinklers, making early fire suppression difficult.

While the importance of sprinklers is emphasized after every fire accident, practical changes have not followed. The significance of sprinklers was highlighted again after the 2017 Jecheon Sports Center fire in Chungbuk and the 2018 Miryang Sejong Hospital fire, yet fires caused by sprinkler absence or malfunction continue to occur. A representative case is last year's Icheon logistics warehouse fire.

Following the Jecheon Sports Center and Miryang Sejong Hospital fires, the government announced a 'Pan-Government Fire Safety Special Measures' to prevent large-scale casualties in fire disasters. The special measures included 227 improvement tasks across three areas: △ fire safety system improvements △ strengthening fire prevention and response systems △ spreading a safety culture.

The fire safety system improvements included strengthening management standards for buildings, electrical facilities, and vulnerable facilities. The criteria for inter-floor fire compartments, previously applied only to floors above the third and basements, were expanded to all floors to prevent fire spread. However, the government failed to prevent casualties in the 2020 Icheon logistics center fire the following year. Investigations revealed that sprinklers were not installed due to the low perceived fire risk of the refrigerated warehouse.

The government prepared a 'Construction Site Fire Safety Plan' as a follow-up measure, but less than three months after the Icheon logistics center fire, a fire broke out at the SLC logistics center in July of the same year, resulting in five deaths and eight injuries. This led to criticism that government measures were not effectively implemented on-site and that patchwork solutions created various blind spots. However, effective measures to address these blind spots have yet to be introduced.

Last April, firefighters were busy searching for survivors and organizing the site at a logistics warehouse construction site fire in Moga-myeon, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, where multiple casualties occurred.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The current Building Act requires regular safety inspections to address such blind spots. The periodic inspections, previously conducted every two years starting 10 years after completion, were changed on May 1 last year to require the first inspection within five years and subsequent inspections every three years. If serious defects are found during inspections, repairs and reinforcements are also mandatory.

However, since inspections target collective buildings over 3,000㎡ and multi-use buildings, some buildings are still excluded. In Seoul, since 2019, a 'Visiting Safety Inspection' has been conducted for small-scale general buildings (buildings under 15 floors and less than 30,000㎡ total floor area) that are exempt from mandatory safety inspections. As of January last year, 88% of the 600,000 buildings in Seoul fall into this small-scale private building category.

Seoul City operates this service free of charge, but inspections are conducted only when building owners or managers request them through the local district office, leading to concerns that some buildings still lack adequate firefighting facilities due to uninspected conditions.

Experts emphasize the importance of safety inspections. Professor Nam Kihoon of the Department of Fire and Disaster Prevention Engineering at Changshin University explained, "The fires in Jecheon and Miryang also resulted in large casualties because initial firefighting was not properly carried out due to inadequate safety facilities. Most recently constructed buildings are equipped with sprinklers, but older buildings are not subject to retroactive application, so some lack adequate firefighting facilities."

He added, "These buildings are not subject to legal sanctions, so initial firefighting remains difficult when fires occur. Non-government-supported facilities like goshiwons inevitably become blind spots." He stressed, "Since safety inspections are legally mandated, they must be properly conducted."

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