Apartment Parking Lot Fire Involving 666 Vehicles... Firefighting Equipment Turned Off

Assemblyman Park Wansu Reviews Fire Alarm History Data from Fire Agency
Fire Signal Received but Equipment Set to 'OFF'
Operation Occurred 10 Minutes After Initial Fire Detection

Around 11:09 PM on the 11th of last month, a fire broke out in the underground parking lot of an apartment in Buldang-dong, Cheonan-si, Chungnam, causing dozens of residents to evacuate outside the apartment. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] It has been revealed that the fire safety system was disabled during the fire in the underground parking lot of an apartment in Cheonan Buldang-dong last month, which burned 666 vehicles and caused massive damage. As a result, fire safety equipment such as sprinklers only activated about 10 minutes after the fire broke out.

According to data submitted by the Fire Department to the office of Park Wansu, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee from the People Power Party, the fire detector installed in the parking lot first detected the fire and sounded a preliminary alarm around 11:08 PM on the 11th of last month when the parking lot fire occurred. However, it was found that the fire safety system was completely turned off 8 seconds after the alarm sounded.

Additionally, after the office reviewed the fire alarm history with fire experts, it was confirmed that although a formal fire signal was received through the fire detector on the second basement floor at the time of the fire, the fire safety system was manipulated to 'OFF'.

The alarm system was restored to normal around 11:14 PM, about 6 minutes after the fire occurred. The fire pump received an activation signal 10 minutes after the initial fire detection.

Regarding this, Representative Park said, "It is a serious problem that fire safety regulations, which require the installation, performance assurance, and maintenance of fire safety facilities during the building completion process, do not function properly on site," and emphasized, "Urgent measures must be taken to fundamentally resolve the recurring issue of fire safety system shutdowns."

A car from a car wash company burning during the fire / Photo by Internet Community Capture

This is not the only case where the fire safety system was manipulated to prevent activation despite fire alarms, thereby increasing damage.

Previously, during the fire incident at the Coupang Deokpyeong Logistics Center in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, in June, fire alarms were ignored six times, delaying the activation of fire safety equipment for about 10 minutes. As a result, three disaster prevention office personnel responsible for electrical and fire safety facilities within the logistics center were sent to the prosecution with charges.

Meanwhile, this incident occurred on the afternoon of the 11th of last month in an underground parking lot in Cheonan. According to police investigation, the fire spread after a mobile car wash vehicle that had entered the parking lot exploded.

The car wash company employee A, the owner of the exploded vehicle, sustained serious injuries, and 14 residents inhaled smoke and were transported to nearby hospitals for treatment.

In the police investigation, A stated, "The fire started while I was lighting a cigarette."

Among the 666 damaged vehicles, 470 reported the damage to their auto insurance companies. It is known that about 200 imported cars, including around 100 Mercedes-Benz vehicles, were among them.

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