Spring Sees the Greatest Property Damage
Preventive Measures Include Construction Site Inspections
It has been revealed that fire incidents and property damage are concentrated in spring among the four seasons. Fire authorities are promoting preventive measures such as securing safety in residential facilities and strengthening fire safety at construction sites.
On the 11th, the National Fire Agency announced that it will implement the '2025 Spring Fire Prevention Measures.' From this month until May 31, the agency will focus nationwide firefighting capabilities for three months to reduce casualties by preventing large-scale fires in spring.
According to the National Fire Agency, from 2020 to the past five years, the number of fire incidents in spring was 52,855, accounting for 28% of the total. Winter followed with 26.7%, summer 22.8%, and autumn 22.5%.
In particular, property damage caused by spring fires reached 1.5 trillion won, which corresponds to 32.6% of the total fire-related property damage. This is twice the amount of property damage caused by autumn fires. The average number of casualties from spring fires over the past five years was 650, the second highest after winter.
Most spring fires were caused by carelessness such as cigarette butts (55.4%). Next were fires caused by electrical factors (20.6%) and mechanical factors (8.8%). The most common fire locations were residential facilities at 27.2%, followed by outdoor/forest areas (22.1%) and automobiles/railroads (11.6%).
To prevent spring fires, the National Fire Agency will first strengthen on-site inspections at construction sites. A prior notification system to fire stations will be operated to prevent fires caused by sparks during urethane foam application and welding/cutting work, and construction sites will be required to appoint fire safety managers. Fire prevention safety guidelines for construction sites will also be produced and distributed.
With the thawing season, joint inspections of local festivals and event venues will be conducted to eliminate fire risk factors in advance. For facilities housing vulnerable groups who have difficulty evacuating on their own, such as elderly and medical facilities, joint inspections with related agencies will be carried out to crack down on the closure or locking of evacuation and fire prevention facilities.
To prevent fires in residential facilities, promotion will be strengthened through various platforms such as smartphone apps, targeting apartment management offices and households with campaigns like 'Setting Up Our Apartment Evacuation Plan' and videos titled 'Check and Evacuate When There Is a Fire.'
Additionally, since burning fields or incinerating waste in rural areas during spring often causes forest fires to spread, local governments will issue warnings and requests for caution.
Hong Young-geun, Director of the Fire Prevention Bureau at the National Fire Agency, stated, "With the upcoming spring, large temperature differences, strong winds, and continued dry weather increase the risk of large fires at construction sites and elsewhere. Since carelessness accounts for more than half of fire causes, we ask the public to actively pay special attention to fire prevention."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
