Gyeonggi Province Fire Department Conducts Crackdown on Three Major Illegal Violations at Public Baths, Jjimjilbangs, and Gyms on the 21st

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] The Gyeonggi Province Fire and Disaster Management Headquarters announced on the 19th that it will conduct this year's fifth and final "three major illegal violations" crackdown on the 21st targeting 412 complex buildings including multipurpose facilities such as public baths, jjimjilbangs, and gyms in the Gyeonggi region.

The three major illegal violations refer to closure or damage of emergency evacuation facilities, obstruction of fire safety equipment, and illegal parking and stopping.

The crackdown will mobilize 206 teams totaling 500 personnel including headquarters, patrol teams at each fire station, and special fire investigation teams, focusing on inspections of ▲management and operational status of evacuation-guiding alarm systems and initial firefighting equipment ▲closure of emergency exits and obstructing behavior on evacuation routes. Additionally, safety education will be conducted in parallel for autonomous safety management, including dissemination of accident cases in similar facilities.

Since the Gyeonggi Province Fire and Disaster Management Headquarters publicized the date of the crackdown in advance, it plans to apply a zero-tolerance principle and impose strict penalties upon discovery of violations.

The Gyeonggi Province Fire and Disaster Management Headquarters has previously conducted four full-scale crackdowns, designating crackdown targets by period.

In April, it conducted a crackdown on 400 large construction sites in the province with a total floor area of 5,000 square meters or more and detected violations at 84 locations (21%), including failure to install temporary fire safety facilities and storage of unauthorized hazardous materials. Prior to the summer vacation season in July, it conducted a crackdown on 410 multipurpose facilities in the province including accommodation facilities and detected violations at 98 locations (23.9%), taking measures such as filing charges.

In September ahead of the Chuseok holiday, among 204 complex buildings in the province such as shopping malls, 47 locations (23%) violating the three major illegal violations were detected. In the same month, conducting an inspection of 176 large complex buildings with super-high-rise and basement connections, 53 locations (30%) with poor conditions such as blocked fire safety equipment were detected.

An official from the Gyeonggi Province Fire and Disaster Management Headquarters stated, "We plan to conduct full-scale crackdowns to prevent disaster accidents that may occur in multipurpose facilities due to increased indoor activities during winter," and added, "Illegal acts threatening the safety of residents will be strongly punished in accordance with fire-related laws. We ask for special attention so that fire-related violations do not occur."