<Anchor> In case of a
fire, the fire alarm is turned off and damage is often increased.
It was the same with the Icheon Coupang Logistics Center fire, and it was revealed that a similar thing happened last month in a parking lot fire in which more than 600 cars were burned in an apartment in Cheonan.
This is the exclusive report by reporter Jeong Ban-seok.
<Reporter> The
underground parking lot of the Cheonan apartment on the night of the 11th of last month.
One person was seriously injured in a fire that started in a business car wash vehicle, and 666 vehicles were burned or burned with smoke.
Residents are still experiencing great inconvenience as they cannot use the parking lot.
There was a sprinkler installed like this in the underground parking lot where the fire broke out, but it didn't work in time.
I got the fire alarm system records and looked at the reason.
At 11:08 on the night of the fire, the fire detector sent a preliminary warning.
However, 12 seconds later, someone turned off the fire fighting system, such as the siren.
In less than a minute, a formal fire detection signal, this time not a reserve, came in, but this time the sprinkler pump was stopped.
When the firefighters arrived at the scene at 11:14 p.m., the fire fighting system was turned on and the sprinkler pumps were activated nine minutes after the fire was detected.
[Kim Seong-han / Vice President of Korea Firefighting Technology Society: It seems that it is quite late for the fire extinguishing water to be waterproofed...
.
It is judged that the fire has expanded considerably.]
Such unauthorized blocking of the fire fighting system may result in imprisonment of up to five years.
[Apartment management office official: I can't give you an answer right now.
Because that's all research...
.]
[Park Wan-soo/People's Strength Rep.: This happens frequently, even though the closing or blocking of firefighting facilities is strictly prohibited.
Technological supplementation and related system improvement are required.]
Police and fire departments are investigating the cause of the fire as well as who and why the firefighting equipment was turned off.
(Video coverage: Park Dae-young, Choi Woon-gi TJB, video editing: Lee Seung-hee, VJ: Roh Jae-min)