238 Fire Safety Violations Found One Year After Jeju Dream Tower Usage Approval

Jeju Provincial Assemblyman Hong Myunghwan: "Numerous Defects Including Sprinkler Malfunction"

Jeju Fire Safety Headquarters: "Will Continuously Inspect to Ensure No Issues"

(On the 14th, a fire broke out at the rooftop cooling tower of Jeju Dream Tower, the tallest building in Jeju Island, with black smoke covering the area below the building. Photo by reader)

[Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won] A fire broke out on the rooftop cooling tower of Jeju Dream Tower, the tallest (38 floors) complex resort in Jeju Island, on the 14th. A detailed fire safety inspection revealed numerous issues just one year after the building's occupancy approval.

According to Hong Myung-hwan, a member of the Jeju Provincial Council's Health, Welfare, and Safety Committee (Democratic Party, Ido 2-dong Gap), the detailed fire safety inspection of Jeju Dream Tower found 238 points of concern.

Among these were serious defects such as sprinkler malfunction, failure of air supply devices during fire evacuation, and malfunctioning fire doors.

The number of defects by building location were 42 in the basement floors, 48 on floors 1 to 8, 66 in Tower 1, and 82 in Tower 2.

The Dream Tower management received building use approval in November 2020 and discovered these 238 issues through an internal detailed inspection. They reported these findings to the Jeju Fire Station on December 28 of last year.

The fire authorities issued an order for corrective action on January 4 of this year, but Dream Tower requested an extension of the deadline until the end of February due to difficulties in procuring parts and securing technicians.

Councilman Hong pointed out, “There were abnormalities such as sprinklers not operating, and air supply facilities not functioning during evacuation via stairs in case of fire. Regarding fire doors, some were dented or did not close automatically, indicating serious defects.”

Park Geun-oh, head of Jeju Fire Safety Headquarters, responded, “There are 110,000 fire safety facilities in Dream Tower, and 238 have been pointed out. In the comprehensive inspection scheduled for May, all 110,000 facilities will be checked, and any deficiencies or issues found will be corrected. Since special inspections are conducted once a year, we will continue to monitor to ensure there are no problems.”

Meanwhile, the tallest building in the province, Dream Tower, experienced a fire accident on the rooftop cooling tower at 2:57 p.m. on the 14th. The fire burned inside the cooling tower for about 25 minutes before being completely extinguished. A special wide-area fire investigation is currently underway.

Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won captain@asiae.co.kr

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