"Preventing Fires in Aging Apartments"… Seoul City Prepares Measures Including Support for Fire Door Installation

Before Introducing Fire and Evacuation Regulations, Government Proposes Using Long-Term Repair Reserves for Installing Evacuation Facilities in Old Apartments
Mandatory Evacuation Facility Inspections

Following the apartment fire incident in Banghak-dong, Dobong-gu last month, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided to mandate the expansion of evacuation facilities such as fire doors and emergency escape devices in aging apartments, along with compulsory management inspection reporting.

On the 8th, Seoul announced the establishment of the "Seoul Metropolitan Government's Measures for Fire Prevention and Damage Mitigation in Aging Apartments." The plan aims to actively enhance fire prevention by strengthening safety management standards for aging apartments built before the introduction of fire and evacuation regulations.

First, the city will actively support the improvement and expansion of evacuation safety facilities such as fire doors, emergency escape devices, and automatic opening and closing devices in aging apartments. When installing fire doors that automatically close upon detecting smoke during a fire, rooftop door automatic opening devices, and evacuation safety facilities, the city plans to propose revisions to related standards to the government to allow the use of long-term repair reserves.

The management system for evacuation facilities will be improved, and supervision will be strengthened. The management entities of multi-unit housing must directly inspect the maintenance status of evacuation facilities, such as whether fire doors are open or closed, every quarter and are required to report the results to the relevant district office.

Additionally, for multi-unit housing buildings of 16 floors or more with a floor area of less than 400㎡ per floor, the city plans to propose to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport the deletion of the exception that excludes them from the requirement to install special evacuation stairs. Architectural review will also be strengthened to prevent unreasonable floor plans that require fire doors to be left open during use.

Starting this month, fire evacuation education, publicity, and fire drills targeting citizens and apartment managers will be intensified. October 10th has been designated as "Apartment Unit Inspection Day," during which all apartments in Seoul will conduct a 10-minute voluntary evacuation drill and self-inspection of fire facilities by residents from 7 p.m., simulating a fire situation.

In this regard, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon will visit an aging apartment in Nowon-gu on the same day to directly inspect the management status of fire and fire prevention facilities. This apartment was completed in October 2002 before the introduction of fire and evacuation regulations and is not subject to sprinkler or emergency escape device installation, conditions similar to the apartment involved in the recent Banghak-dong fire incident.

Mayor Oh said, "I extend my deepest condolences to the families of the recent apartment fire victims, and we will review and improve all related apartment safety facilities and systems to prevent such tragic accidents in the future. In particular, we will actively promote institutional improvements to ensure that evacuation safety facilities such as fire doors and emergency escape devices can be installed in aging apartments built before the full implementation of evacuation and fire regulations, which are vulnerable to evacuation and fire."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

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