"170 Evacuated, 0 Injured"...Sweat-Drenched Firefighters, Noble Professional Spirit 'Touching'

Busan Haeundae-gu Hotel Fire
Touching Photo of Firefighters in Action

A single photo capturing a firefighter kneeling down, drenched in sweat and catching his breath, is delivering a powerful emotional impact.

On the morning of the 20th, a firefighter who had just extinguished a fire at a hotel in Haeundae-gu, Busan, is exhausted.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to Yonhap News on the 21st, the person who took the photo is Kim Jaepil (57), who was staying at a hotel fire scene in Haeundae-gu, Busan. He had come to Haeundae Beach in Busan with his wife for a 2-night, 3-day trip when they encountered the fire. However, thanks to the firefighter’s calm evacuation guidance, they were able to evacuate safely.

At the time, Kim was preparing to check out when he noticed fire trucks outside the window and sensed something was wrong. Ten minutes later, when hotel staff started knocking on each room’s door, he realized it was an emergency and ran out into the hallway with his wife.

The hotel where Kim was staying has a structure where you must go down to the 4th floor from the guest room floors and then transfer elevators to reach the 1st floor.

Kim was staying on the 7th floor, and by the time evacuation began, the stairs and hallways were already filled with smoke.

While passing through the 4th-floor hallway, just as he thought, “Am I going to die like this?” a firefighter approached and handed him an oxygen mask. Kim and his wife put on the masks and were able to escape the building safely.

Believing that the firefighter had saved their lives, Kim explained that when he was outside breathing fresh air, he noticed firefighters who had been extinguishing the fire in the basement kneeling down, drenched in sweat and catching their breath, and he took a photo of the scene.

Kim said, “Although the fire started in the basement, the smoke was rapidly rising to the upper floors, and the structure to get down to the 1st floor was very complicated, so there could have been a major accident during evacuation. Fortunately, the firefighters calmly guided the evacuation, and it seems that none of the guests were injured,” he added.

On the morning of the 20th, a fire broke out at a hotel in Haeundae-gu, Busan, and guests used a ladder truck to evacuate and rescue citizens. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Although it is advised to avoid using elevators during a fire, because the stairs were filled with smoke, some guests evacuated using the elevator following hotel staff instructions. Guests who could not evacuate to the 1st floor waited in the outdoor pool terrace area on the 4th floor and were rescued by ladder trucks, while some who evacuated to the rooftop were rescued by helicopter.

Meanwhile, 170 guests evacuated during the fire, and 32 guests were taken to the hospital after inhaling smoke, but their injuries were minor and they were not included in the injury list.

However, three firefighters suffered burns during the fire suppression process.

Some guests also claimed that the fire alarm did not sound and there was no evacuation announcement from the hotel, which delayed the evacuation.

The police and fire authorities are verifying the facts based on statements that there were no fire alarms or evacuation announcements.