"Restaurant Fire on BTS Concert Day"...Foreign Tourist Starts Blaze While Grilling Meat, Police Respond Swiftly

It was belatedly revealed that police officers deployed at a BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan) concert site quickly brought a nearby restaurant fire under control, preventing a major accident.

According to the police on April 29, at around 12:20 p.m. on the 9th, five officers from the 12th Mobile Unit of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency, who had been assigned to manage safety at the main stadium of Goyang Sports Complex for the BTS world tour, witnessed a fire while dining at a nearby barbecue restaurant.

On the 9th, when a fire broke out at a barbecue restaurant in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi Province, police officers from the 12th Mobile Unit of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency entered the interior to extinguish the fire. Photo captured from the Police Agency's YouTube channel.

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The fire started at a table used by foreign tourists. Sparks from the charcoal grill were sucked into the restaurant’s ventilation fan and ignited grease buildup, causing the fire to spread to the ceiling.

The video released by the Police Agency captured the situation at the time. The interior of the restaurant was filled with smoke, and startled customers rushed toward the exits all at once. As foreign guests, who were dining before the concert, became entangled near the exit, concerns rose about the possibility of secondary accidents.

The officers entered in the opposite direction of the crowd and took control of the situation. Officer Park Jinseo remembered the fire extinguisher placed at the entrance, immediately ran to the fire site, and put out the flames. Inspector Kim Yuri and Sergeant Lee Eunsol loudly directed people to the exits, quickly evacuating about seventy customers. Sergeant Kwak Suyeon called 119, while Officer Jang Subin attended to a foreign customer who had suffered a minor burn.

The fire was extinguished in about one minute, and the situation was resolved without serious injury. Although the ventilation fan and part of the ceiling were scorched, the overall damage was minor.

According to the fire authorities’ investigation, the fire was caused by an accident involving a foreign tourist unfamiliar with using charcoal grills. When the flames grew after a large amount of meat was placed on the grill, the customer tried to control the fire by moving the hood closer, which led to sparks being sucked into the ventilation system.

Inspector Kim Yuri said, “I feel proud that we were able to let the public know that citizens in uniform are always by their side,” adding, “We will continue to do our best to protect public safety.”

The police plan to award commendations to those who contributed to extinguishing the fire and evacuating people during this incident.

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