Mapo apartment fire: sprinklers not installed again = South Korea

A fire broke out in Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea, on the morning of the 17th, killing two residents and injuring 13. The apartment building where the fire occurred was exempt from the mandatory installation of sprinklers.
Experts have emphasized the need to expand the installation of sprinklers to reduce the number of casualties.
According to fire authorities, a fire broke out on the 14th floor of an apartment building in Mapo-gu at around 8:17 a.m. on the same day, killing two residents.
Six of the injured were treated at the scene, while the rest, who suffered burns and smoke inhalation, were taken to a nearby hospital.
The fire department, which received a report from an apartment resident that "black smoke was visible," issued a response level 1 and deployed firefighters.
186 people were deployed and the fire was put out about 2 hours and 25 minutes after it started. According to the fire department, there were no sprinklers installed on the 14th floor where the fire started.
When the building was completed in 1998, the Fire Service Act Enforcement Ordinance required sprinklers to be installed only on the 16th floor and above of apartment buildings with 16 or more floors.
The law was amended to require the installation of sprinklers on all floors of buildings above this level, but this did not apply retroactively to buildings built before that date.
Choi, who was on the third floor of the apartment building, said, "I evacuated around 8 o'clock, but at that time there were no alarms or sprinklers going off.
"If there had been sprinklers, the fire could have been put out earlier. Old houses are still treated as if nothing can be done about them, so the damage is great," he said.
Mr. Park, who lives on the fourth floor of the same apartment building, said, "Installing sprinklers is expensive, but I've heard that it's technically possible.
"It's unfortunate, but I don't know how to solve this," he said. Human casualties from fires in apartment buildings without sprinklers have repeatedly occurred.
On the 13th of last month, a mother in her 80s and her eldest son in his 50s lost their lives in a fire while they were sleeping in an apartment in Buk-gu, Busan.
The building is 15 stories tall and a building permit was issued around 2003, but the sprinkler installation obligation is applied based on the time of the building permit, so it was not subject to the mandatory installation.
The apartment fire that killed two sisters, aged 0 and 7, did not have sprinklers installed, once again highlighting the risk of fires in aging apartment buildings.
According to the "Current Status of Sprinkler Installation in Apartment Buildings" submitted by Yang Boon-am, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, as of January 2024,
Of the 44,208 apartment complexes in the country, only 15,388 have sprinklers installed, a rate of installation of only 35%. Furthermore, there are frequent cases where the equipment does not work properly.
Of the 23,401 fires that occurred in apartment buildings over the five-year period from 2019 to 2023, sprinklers only worked properly in 15.6% (3,656 cases).
During this period, 325 people died in fires and 2,477 people were injured. Due to the repeated human damage, the Diet is seeking to expand the obligation to install sprinklers.
On the 23rd of last month, 10 members of the National Assembly, including Rep. Kim Mi-ae, proposed the Fire Prevention Facilities Act, which would make it mandatory to install sprinklers or simple sprinklers on all floors of apartment buildings.
Regarding this, experts said, "Sprinklers are very complicated equipment, and installing them after the fact in buildings where residents live would be very costly and time-consuming."
"Because the law is not applied retroactively, there are few cases of installing hydrants later," he added. "Unlike sprinklers, which automatically extinguish fires, indoor fire hydrants require residents to be aware of a fire and proactively put out the fire.
"If the measures are not implemented, it will not be effective," he said, and recommended that "national consensus and changes to the system are needed to improve living conditions."
Upon hearing of the fire, Chairman Chung Chung-rye of the Democratic Party visited the apartment building and offered his condolences to the victims, saying that he would do his best to prevent a recurrence.
"I heard that there were no sprinklers in the building, but safety is the most important thing. We will thoroughly inspect even these areas and do our best to be prepared," said Park Kang-soo, head of Mapo-gu District Office.
"We offer our deepest condolences for the precious lives lost in the fire," he said, adding, "The ward will spare no effort in providing the necessary support to help affected residents regain stability as soon as possible."
Meanwhile, fire authorities and police are investigating the specific cause of the fire.