"Fire at the House Next Door!" 20 Fire Trucks Dispatched, but It Was a 'Bulmyeong' Video

Resident "Relaxing While Watching Fireplace Fire Stare Video"

"The house next door is blazing! Please come quickly!"

Late at night, a report of a fire at an officetel in Dangsan-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, caused a commotion as residents evacuated.

(This photo is not directly related to the article.) [Photo source=Pixabay]

Around midnight on the 19th, Ms. A, a middle-aged woman living in an apartment in Dangsan-dong, Seoul, came out to the kitchen to drink water and saw a fire at the house next door through the window, prompting her to call 119.

The fire department dispatched 61 personnel and 20 vehicles to the scene to extinguish the fire.

Evacuation announcements were reportedly made in the officetel. Alarmed residents rushed outside the building. However, no signs of fire were found on the building’s exterior.

[Photo by Gyeongnam Fire Headquarters]

It was eventually revealed to be a false alarm. According to the fire department’s investigation, no actual fire had occurred; a nearby resident mistook the campfire flames shown on a TV screen visible through another house’s window for a real fire and reported it.

The ‘Bulmeong’ (staring blankly at fire) videos showing campfires burning have recently gained popularity on YouTube and other online video platforms. Experts have analyzed that these videos help the brain rest amid the information overload of modern society.

In particular, many people enjoy Bulmeong indoors or outdoors by lighting campfires, finding comfort in the steady crackling sounds and the lively flames. Videos showing logs burning in a fireplace continuously for 10 hours have even surpassed 100 million views.

The situation when the TV screen showing a 'bulmyeong' video was mistaken for a fire.
[Photo by Kieran Murray Instagram]

A fire department official stated that firefighters who arrived at the scene entered the house where the fire was reported and confirmed it was a TV screen.

A similar incident where a fire truck was dispatched after mistaking Bulmeong for a real fire also made headlines in the United States about ten days ago.

According to the American news magazine Inside Edition, Kieran Murray, who lives in Manhattan, New York, saw what he thought was an uncontrollable blaze in a high-rise apartment across the street while looking out his window.

However, what he believed to be flames was actually a Bulmeong video playing on a large TV screen.

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