‘Bulmeong’ Can Be Dangerous... Consumer Agency Issues Safety Alert for ‘Ethanol for Brazier’

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] The Korea Consumer Agency, the National Fire Agency, and the National Fire Research Institute have issued a consumer safety advisory regarding ethanol products used in fire pits for ‘bulmeong’?relaxing while watching flames.

According to the Consumer Agency on the 28th, an analysis of 12 small-capacity ethanol fuel products (1ℓ or less) distributed in the market by the National Fire Research Institute confirmed that all contained ethanol concentrations of 95% or higher, classifying them as highly flammable substances. When ethanol concentration is 95% or higher, it can ignite from nearby sparks at temperatures above 13.5°C, and from 78.0°C, the liquid fuel vaporizes, so leaving fuel around the fire pit poses a high risk of fire and explosion accidents.

Over the past five years, 23 fire and hazard cases related to ethanol fire pits and fuels have been reported to the Consumer Hazard Monitoring System and the National Fire Agency, resulting in 22 injuries and property damage exceeding 125 million KRW.

Since ethanol fuel is classified as a hazardous material under the Hazardous Materials Safety Control Act, the transport containers must be labeled with the product name and warnings such as ‘No Open Flame.’ However, none of the 12 products investigated complied with these labeling requirements.

The Consumer Agency recommended that violating businesses comply with mandatory labeling, and all investigated businesses voluntarily completed corrective actions.

Based on this investigation, the National Fire Agency created guidelines for attaching warning labels on ethanol products and conducted on-site education and promotion for ethanol manufacturers.

The Consumer Agency plans to provide these guidelines to nine online platform operators and request training for sellers on their platforms.

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