Jeju Island Installs 269 Fire Extinguisher Storage Boxes at Ports and Harbors in the Province

Published 25 Oct.2022 10:52(KST)

[Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Jeongpil] Jeju Special Self-Governing Province is reinforcing fire-fighting facilities at ports and harbors within the province.

Jeju Province announced on the 25th that since ship fires occurred this year at Seongsan Port and Hallim Port, it has been conducting safety inspections of ports and harbors across the province since July to strengthen fire prevention and initial response.

As a follow-up measure, it plans to invest approximately 536 million KRW in contingency funds to intensively reinforce 269 fire extinguisher storage boxes in fishing boat docking areas within ports and harbors by the end of this year.

The installation locations will be within 10 meters from the fishing boat docking quay, with one box per 100 meters. Each fire extinguisher storage box will be equipped with six powder fire extinguishers for ships.

Fire extinguishers are expected to greatly contribute to fire prevention at ports and harbors because they can be easily and quickly used by anyone in case of fire or similar emergencies. The storage boxes will be installed with enhanced visibility through painting and other means so that anyone can easily identify them.

In particular, among the 23 ship fires that occurred in Jeju over the past five years, 8 cases (34.8%) were extinguished using fire extinguishers, showing high effectiveness in initial response to ship fires.

During the ship fire at Hallim Port on the 18th, the reporter quickly used a fire extinguisher to suppress the fire early, preventing major damage.

Additionally, 23 fire hydrants will be newly installed at 19 ports and harbors to ensure smooth supply of fire-fighting water during fire suppression and other fire-fighting activities.

The additional fire hydrants were selected considering installation conditions such as water supply and priority needs for on-site fire response, and installation will be completed by each managing department by next year.

Jeju Province plans to maintain 100% operational status of safety facilities and equipment such as fire-fighting facilities within ports and harbors through systematic management by strengthening cooperation with related organizations, clarifying management responsibilities for each facility, and conducting regular inspections and ongoing maintenance.

Park Geun-o, Head of the Fire Safety Headquarters, said, “In addition to reinforcing fire extinguisher storage boxes and fire hydrants that can be quickly used in emergencies such as ship fires, we will do our best to strengthen ship fire response capabilities by establishing a cooperative system including joint fire drills with related agencies.”