Hong Young-geun, Jeonnam Fire Headquarters Chief, Inspects Traditional Market Fire Prevention Ahead of Seollal

Hong Young-geun, head of the Jeonnam Fire Headquarters, visited Yeosu Fishery Market ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday to conduct an on-site fire prevention inspection.

According to Jeonnam Fire on the 29th, Hong Young-geun and Park Won-guk, chief of Yeosu Fire Station, listened to market status and safety measures from the merchant association officials, then toured various parts of the market to identify potential fire hazards.

He also emphasized the importance of voluntary safety management to the officials and urged active cooperation to secure fire lanes.

Hong said, “Fires in traditional markets have a very high possibility of escalating into large-scale fires,” and added, “Please be especially careful when handling heating devices and open flames during winter.”

Traditional markets have a high frequency of using heating devices and open flames in winter, and since shops are densely packed, rapid fire spread can cause extensive damage in case of a fire.

In fact, on the 22nd, a fire at the Chungnam Seocheon Specialty Market caused no casualties but burned 227 shops, resulting in significant property damage.

In the past three years, there have been eight fires in traditional markets in the Jeonnam region, with no casualties but property damage amounting to approximately 350 million won.

Notably, 50% of the fire causes were electrical issues such as short circuits and wiring faults, and 25% were due to negligence.

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