Gwangju Bukbu Fire Station conducted fire safety consulting by visiting local temples on the 16th ahead of Buddha's Birthday.
Most temples are wooden structures, making fire suppression difficult due to rapid combustion expansion if a fire occurs. Additionally, since they are often located in the mountains, there is a high risk of wildfire spread, requiring special attention to fire prevention, according to the fire department.
According to the fire department, a total of 209 temple fires occurred nationwide over the past five years, resulting in 10 casualties and approximately 6.1 billion KRW in property damage. The leading cause of fires was negligence, accounting for 41.6%.
Considering the high number of fires caused by negligence, fire safety consulting was conducted for temple officials.
The main points included ▲pre-removal of unauthorized burning and fire-vulnerable factors around temples ▲checking the availability of portable firefighting equipment such as backpack pumps and water sources ▲securing fire station access roads and entry routes and devising response plans ▲inspecting the operation status of fire facilities and urging safety management of facilities ▲providing education on initial response and evacuation procedures for temple officials.
A fire department official stated, "With the improvement of the COVID-19 situation, the number of visitors to temples is expected to surge," and urged, "Special care must be taken when using fire to prevent large-scale damage."
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