Seoul Fire Department Implements Fire Safety Measures for Chuseok Holiday... Enters Special Alert Duty

COVID-19 Related Facilities such as Vaccination Centers and Residential Treatment Centers Conduct Fire Prevention Safety Consulting

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Fire and Disaster Headquarters announced on the 13th that it will conduct a 'special alert duty' from September 17 to 23, the day before the Chuseok holiday, in preparation for the Chuseok holiday.

During the Chuseok holiday period, each fire station in Seoul will conduct preventive patrols in fire-prone areas to secure emergency routes for fire trucks and continuously carry out pre-guidance on risk factors. The preventive patrols will use fire pump trucks and include patrol routes covering COVID-19 related facilities, traditional markets, and large supermarkets, conducting patrols at least twice a day, day and night.

Meanwhile, the Fire and Disaster Headquarters has been conducting fire prevention safety consulting at 732 locations, including COVID-19 vaccination centers, since August 27, before the start of the Chuseok holiday. The fire prevention safety consulting targets include 43 vaccination centers, 27 residential treatment centers, 12 temporary living facilities, 125 nursing hospitals, and 509 elderly medical welfare facilities.

For fire prevention, the Fire and Disaster Headquarters is conducting special fire inspections at a total of 570 traditional markets and multi-use facilities, and is also promoting fire safety inspections at 1,786 fire-prone sites such as jjokbangchon (small room villages) and gas facilities. In addition, volunteer firefighters conduct nighttime patrols around traditional markets and jjokbangchon to remove fire risk factors in advance and secure fire truck passage routes.

During the Chuseok holiday period, accidents will be handled by 143 units of the 119 Life Safety Team and 163 units of the 119 Ambulance Team deployed throughout the city, responding to 119 emergency calls. Especially, to prepare for cases where land access is difficult, such as highway traffic accidents and mountain accidents, three helicopters belonging to the Seoul Fire Aviation Unit will also be on standby. According to the Fire and Disaster Headquarters, a total of 219 fires occurred during the Chuseok holiday period over the past five years, resulting in 8 injuries. By year, there were 45 cases in 2016, 52 in 2017, 49 in 2018, 45 in 2019, and 28 in 2020.

At the Seoul Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Center's Ambulance Situation Management Center, which receives 119 emergency calls, 33 personnel?5 more than the usual 28?will be assigned during the Chuseok holiday period to tasks such as hospital and pharmacy guidance and medical consultation in response to COVID-19.

Choi Tae-young, head of the Seoul Fire and Disaster Headquarters, said, "We are implementing proactive fire safety measures for fire-prone targets to ensure a safe Chuseok holiday," and added, "We will respond promptly to any disaster situations that may occur unexpectedly."

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