Gyeonggi Fire Department Achieves Major Success in Fire Safety Education for Foreigners... Safety Awareness Up by 10%

The Gyeonggi-do Fire and Disaster Headquarters reported that the comprehensive fire safety measures conducted last year targeting foreigners achieved significant results.

The Fire and Disaster Headquarters announced on the 28th that from June to the end of December last year, they implemented the ‘Foreigners' Fire Safety Innovation Master Plan’ to reduce casualties caused by fires among foreigners, resulting in more than a 10% increase in fire safety awareness. According to the survey, awareness in five areas?emergency reporting methods, evacuation methods, fire extinguisher usage, CPR knowledge, and fire hydrant usage?improved from an average score of 3.3 before the implementation of the comprehensive plan to 3.6 afterward, an increase of about 10%.

Following a fire in March last year at a multi-family housing complex in Ansan City that resulted in the deaths of four people including a child from Nigeria, the Fire and Disaster Headquarters established the nation’s first comprehensive fire safety plan for foreigners, the ‘Foreigners' Fire Safety Innovation Master Plan.’

Under the comprehensive plan, the Fire and Disaster Headquarters installed residential fire safety equipment such as fire extinguishers and smoke detectors in 16,947 accommodations for foreign workers and 1,898 households where foreigners reside. Additionally, fire safety inspections were conducted at 150 foreign employment workplaces subject to inspection by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, focusing on maintaining fire and evacuation facilities and eliminating fire hazards.

A firefighter is conducting fire safety training for foreigners.

Furthermore, the multicultural village special zone in Ansan, where many foreigners reside, was designated as a ‘Fire Prevention Reinforcement Zone’ to strengthen fire safety inspections, fire education, and training. Ten disaster types closely related to foreigners’ lives, including factory fires, building collapses, and entrapments, were selected, and 50,000 copies of ‘Disaster Type-Specific Action Guidelines’ leaflets were produced in five languages?English, Chinese, Vietnamese, and two others?and distributed to facilities frequented by foreigners.

To establish a rapid response system, the 119 situation management system was improved so that fire dispatch teams can receive information at once when a fire is reported at foreign workers’ accommodations.

The Fire and Disaster Headquarters also took steps to foster a safety culture together with foreigners.

They formed a ‘Foreigners 119 Youth Group’ consisting of about 170 foreign youths and selected 20 foreign instructors to launch the ‘Global Safety 119 Instructor Group.’

At the 12th Gyeonggi-do Residents CPR Competition held last year, nine foreign teams participated for the first time. At the Gyeonggi-do National Safety Experience Center located in Osan, safety experience education was provided to over 2,300 foreigners.

Cho Sun-ho, head of the Fire and Disaster Headquarters, stated, “We have led various institutional improvements such as enacting an ordinance supporting fire safety for foreign residents and recommending the government designate temporary structures, often used as foreign workers’ accommodations, as specific fire safety targets. We will create a Gyeonggi-do that faithfully upholds the fundamental spirit that safety transcends borders and races.”