Gwangju Seobu Fire Department Conducts Joint Fire Drill with Shinsegae Department Store

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] The Gwangju Western Fire Station announced on the 5th that, following the fire at Daejeon Hyundai Premium Outlet on the 27th of last month which resulted in the deaths of seven workers, it will conduct joint public-private fire drills at four large retail facilities in its jurisdiction.

The first drill was held on the 5th at Shinsegae Department Store, conducted jointly with the department store’s self-defense fire brigade. This fire drill was designed to simulate fires at large retail facilities where there is concern for casualties, aiming to improve the initial fire response capabilities of the self-defense fire brigade and strengthen the firefighting team’s ability to respond at fire scenes.

The drill involved 28 firefighters, 8 fire trucks, and about 200 members of the department store’s self-defense fire brigade and related personnel. The training proceeded in the following order: ▲initial response training by the self-defense fire brigade ▲wireless communication training for the first response team commander ▲deployment and control training of fire trucks ▲fire suppression training ▲evacuation training for related personnel.

Jo Ho-ik, head of the 119 Disaster Response Division, said, "Since retail facilities are places frequently visited by an unspecified large number of people, initial fire suppression and evacuation of people are very important in the event of a fire. We will continue to do our best to protect citizens’ lives and property through ongoing on-site adaptation training."