Gyeonggi Province Pushes Fire Safety Inspections and Institutional Reforms Following Incheon Logistics Center Fire
[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] Gyeonggi Province announced on the 22nd that, in connection with the fire at the Coupang logistics center in Incheon, it will conduct emergency fire safety inspections of large logistics warehouses across the province, while also pursuing improvements to the fire safety system and strengthening its on-site response framework.
Prompted by the large-scale logistics center fire that broke out in Incheon on the 18th, the province held an emergency response meeting on the same day, chaired by Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae, regarding the Incheon Coupang logistics center fire, in order to comprehensively inspect fire risk factors at large logistics warehouses across Gyeonggi Province and to strengthen the fire safety management system from prevention through response.
Based on the results of the meeting, the Gyeonggi Province Fire Service will first inspect 15 Coupang logistics warehouses with a total floor area of 100,000㎡ or more, and then expand inspections to 41 top-tier fire safety management targets and 432 first-grade targets with a total floor area of 15,000㎡ or more.
The inspections will focus on △compliance with battery and hazardous materials storage and handling standards △the maintenance and management status of firefighting facilities △the safety management systems of relevant personnel. In addition, the province plans to broadly examine not only compliance with legal standards but also matters requiring improvement in light of the latest safety standards, as well as potential on-site risk factors, and to disclose the inspection results to residents.
Along with this, the province will develop improvement measures by analyzing the fire vulnerability and fire-spread characteristics of mezzanine rack structures, whose use has been expanding in large logistics warehouses recently, as well as constraints on firefighting units' access and water discharge operations. Based on these findings, the province also plans to propose legal and institutional reforms to the National Assembly and the central government to strengthen fire safety standards for logistics warehouses.
Governor Choo Mi-ae stressed, “This matter concerns life and safety, and for essential measures required for fire safety, we need to establish reasonable standards that can be applied retroactively, along with a legal amendment to expand government support,” calling for measures to be prepared at the level of the central government and the National Assembly.
The province will also strengthen its on-site response framework. It will intensively carry out on-site safety guidance by fire station chiefs, emergency fire safety investigations, and fire safety education for relevant personnel, and will overhaul the emergency contact system between logistics warehouse representatives and safety managers.
In particular, the province plans to expand customized education using recent fire cases, while also including new logistics warehouses among priority fire safety management targets to continuously strengthen prevention-focused safety management.
Governor Choo Mi-ae said, "While this large logistics warehouse fire in Incheon caused no direct casualties, it was an accident that brought great anxiety and inconvenience to residents' daily lives," adding, "Gyeonggi Province will promptly improve the risk factors identified through these on-site inspections, and will actively pursue necessary institutional supplements in close cooperation with the National Assembly and the government, so as to further strengthen the fire safety system and allow residents to carry on their daily lives with peace of mind."