"Apartment Fire Preparedness, Knowledge is Power"…Fire Service Strengthens Public Awareness Campaign

Business Agreement with Related Organizations
Promotion of Improved Action Guidelines

The National Fire Agency is strengthening public awareness campaigns on apartment fire evacuation safety. This move comes in response to a series of recent apartment fire incidents, including a sudden fire last Christmas in Banghak-dong, Dobong-gu, which resulted in two fatalities.

On the 11th, the National Fire Agency signed a business agreement with the Apartment Residents' Representatives Council Federation and the Korea Housing Management Association, and through business cooperation with KTis and Focus Media Korea, decided to actively promote apartment fire prevention and evacuation safety.

On the 12th, the National Fire Agency announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with related organizations such as the National Apartment Residents' Representatives Association and the Korea Housing Management Association at the agency's main conference room the previous day. Additionally, KTis and Focus Media Korea are participating as partner organizations. This MOU aims to widely promote the 'Improved Apartment Fire Evacuation Safety Manual' through community-based publicity and encourage active public participation in initiatives like 'Creating Our Home Evacuation Plan.'

According to fire occurrence statistics from the National Fire Agency, over the past five years (2018?2022), there have been 14,230 fires in apartments, resulting in 180 deaths and 1,487 injuries. An analysis of the 180 apartment fire fatalities revealed that the causes of death were smoke inhalation and combined factors in 127 cases, burns in 13 cases, jumping from heights in 9 cases, and other causes in 31 cases. Many fatalities during apartment fires occurred due to smoke inhalation on staircases while evacuating or from jumping out of windows. Although lightweight partitions, evacuation spaces, and downward evacuation routes are installed, there have been cases where residents were unaware of these installations and died as a result.

Earlier, in November last year, the National Fire Agency developed and distributed an improved evacuation safety action guideline that instructs residents to assess evacuation conditions based on the fire location and the influence of flames and smoke, and to evacuate accordingly. The evacuation plan is divided into ▲evacuation environment survey ▲scenario setting ▲evacuation planning. Before creating an evacuation plan, residents should first investigate the evacuation facilities and routes of their apartment, as well as the overall evacuation environment. Next, they should set scenarios based on possible fire situations in their home, and all family members should participate in establishing an evacuation plan, learning the judgment criteria and action guidelines for each fire scenario.

Following this MOU, apartment management offices will actively encourage participation in the 'Creating Our Home Evacuation Plan' campaign through residents' representative meetings, and fire stations nationwide will conduct more proactive fire safety education and training, focusing especially on older apartments. In particular, apartment elevator monitors (town boards, elevator TVs) will broadcast apartment fire evacuation action guidelines and fire safety rules, making it easier for residents to access fire evacuation safety information.

Nam Hwa-young, Commissioner of the National Fire Agency, stated, “We will actively promote the improved apartment fire evacuation safety action guidelines to all citizens and strengthen education and training to ensure they are effective in real emergency situations.”

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