Ministry of the Interior and Safety Develops Measures to Prevent Recurrence of Fires in Traditional Markets

Meeting of the 'Traditional Market Fire Disaster Cause Investigation Team' Held

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 14th that, in response to the repeated occurrence of fires in traditional markets such as the Hyundai Market fire in Incheon Metropolitan City and the Beongae Market fire in Samcheok City, Gangwon Province, it has formed a 'Traditional Market Fire Disaster Cause Investigation Team' and decided to establish measures to prevent the recurrence of fires in traditional markets.

The investigation team will hold regular meetings every two weeks to review the effectiveness of existing safety systems related to traditional market fires, actively identify new improvement tasks in collaboration with relevant ministries, and plan to prepare recurrence prevention measures by the end of May.

Professor Jeong Gi-shin of Semyung University, who will lead the investigation team, stated, “Although fire stations and local governments conduct regular safety inspections to prevent fires in traditional markets, about 50 fires occur repeatedly every year,” and “Through this disaster cause investigation, it is necessary to establish fundamental measures rather than reactive, after-the-fact solutions.”

Ko Gwang-wan, Disaster Cooperation Policy Officer at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, “Most traditional market workers are small-scale merchants and local residents with limited means, so when a large fire occurs in a traditional market, they lose their livelihoods and face threats to their survival in an instant,” adding, “We will thoroughly examine whether there have been any blind spots in government policies regarding fire prevention and initial response through analysis of past similar incidents, and prepare highly effective fire prevention measures on the ground.”

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