Changwon Coast Guard Fully Prepared for Barge Fire Response

Joint Civil-Military-Government Basic Training for Disaster Preparedness Conducted

On February 17th, the sea in front of Sujeong Village, Gusan-myeon, Masanhappo-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongnam, turned into a sea of fire. A fire broke out on a moored fishing barge, burning three barges, aquaculture farms, and fishing gear.

The Changwon Coast Guard announced on the 17th that it will conduct a basic disaster preparedness drill at 2 p.m. on the 19th to prevent and respond to barge fire accidents that cause significant damage to fishermen.

According to the Changwon Coast Guard, the basic disaster preparedness drill is a legally mandated annual training conducted jointly with maritime rescue cooperation agencies and civilian rescue organizations to protect lives, bodies, and property from distress accidents caused by natural or man-made reasons on the water.

Changwon Maritime Police Station, Gyeongnam.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

On that day, the Changwon Coast Guard will conduct a drill in the large conference room of the Coast Guard office, simulating a fire on cargo transport vessels (barges) moored in large numbers in the waters, to respond to a collective moored barge fire accident.

After a moored barge or vessel fire occurs, the village chief of the fishing village directly reports the fire spreading to a marine barge, the Changwon Coast Guard receives the report and proceeds with initial response by rescue agencies, life rescue through marine and aerial search, and fire suppression in sequence.

The drill will involve the Namhae Regional Coast Guard Aviation Unit, Masan Port Vessel Traffic Service Center, Changwon City Hall, Masan Regional Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Office, Masan Fire Station, Masan Fireboat Unit, Changwon Fishing Vessel Safety Operation Bureau, Navy Jinhae Base Command, and the 62nd Maritime Air Squadron.

Civilian participants will include the Korean Maritime Rescue Association Masan Search and Rescue Team, civilian maritime rescue teams’ aerial search units, drone search units, underwater rescue teams, and village chiefs of Sujeong and Annyeong fishing villages.

They will practice and review the roles and missions of each agency based on actual accident cases due to the frequent fires occurring among 394 fishing work barges moored in the Changwon waters, the scattered aquaculture farms, and the increased damage caused by chain fires due to the dense concentration of work barges.

Chief Jang Da-woon said, “Through this drill, we will establish a civil-government-military maritime rescue cooperation system and strive to strengthen rescue capabilities to protect the precious lives and property of the people from moored barge fire accidents that could lead to large-scale disasters.”

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