Gyeonggi Fire Department Promotes Siren Tower of Yeoncheon Jeongok Volunteer Fire Brigade as 'National Heritage'

Yeoncheon Jeongok Siren Tower

The Gyeonggi-do Fire and Disaster Headquarters is promoting the registration of the 'Yeoncheon-gun Jeongok Volunteer Fire Brigade Siren Tower,' where a trumpet-attached fire motor siren, considered the only model of its kind in Korea, was discovered, as a national heritage site to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the fire siren sounding this year.

The Fire and Disaster Headquarters announced on the 21st that they plan to register the Jeongok Volunteer Fire Brigade building and siren tower in Yeoncheon-gun as national heritage and to establish the nation's first volunteer fire brigade history museum in the building.

Earlier in April, a large trumpet-attached fire motor siren was discovered on the rooftop of the old Jeongok Volunteer Fire Brigade building in Jeongok-eup, Yeoncheon-gun. The motor siren found this time has three large trumpets attached, is unique in Gyeonggi-do, is a rare model, and has preserved its original form since installation.

The history of the fire siren, for which the Fire and Disaster Headquarters is promoting national heritage registration, dates back 100 years.

During the Japanese colonial period, the time signal was called 'Opo.' Opo meant firing a cannon at noon to announce the time. However, Opo had a high cost burden due to cannon firing. At that time, Gyeongseong Fire Department considered budget cuts, and the idea of sounding a motor siren installed in the fire department was proposed as an alternative. Then, on June 21, 1924, exactly 100 years ago, the first siren sounded in Gyeongseong nationwide. The siren sound reached up to 2 ri (approximately 800 meters) in all directions, and the noon siren sound was expanded nationwide.

Jeongok Volunteer Fire Brigade Motor Siren

The noon siren was designed to start sounding 90 seconds before noon and end exactly at noon. The noon siren was used in local areas until the 1970s and gradually began to be abolished depending on regional conditions, disappearing after the nighttime curfew was lifted in 1982.

Jo Seon-ho, head of the Gyeonggi-do Fire and Disaster Headquarters, said, "Currently, sirens are only used on fire trucks or ambulances, but the motor siren tower is an important artifact that proves the development history of warning devices in our country and is a heritage urgently needing preservation measures. We will register the Jeongok Volunteer Fire Brigade Siren Tower as a national heritage and preserve it well to pass it on to future generations."

Meanwhile, since the 1920s, most cities at the eup and myeon levels nationwide installed and operated siren towers by the fire or police departments to replace the previous fire alarm bells, so there were many in number. However, most have now disappeared, and only about 30 siren towers remain nationwide.