▲ A fire broke out at the live fish section of the Agricultural and Fishery Market in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, at around 11:13 p.m. on the 9th, causing the building to collapse.
"The scorching summer was passing, and the August holiday and the Chuseok peak season were approaching, and now I don't know what to do."
At the live fish section of the Agricultural and Fishery Market in Songcheon-dong, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, on the morning of today (the 10th).
The heart of a merchant in his 50s surnamed Choi crumbled along with the building, whose roof had collapsed after being burned pitch black.
A fire broke out at the market's live fish section building the previous day, burning down the entire structure and destroying live fish and dried seafood inside the stores.
The fire was extinguished at 3:30 a.m. today, but firefighters were busy clearing debris across the building and putting out remaining embers.
The roof of the building collapsed from the fire beyond recognition, and a acrid smell still lingered in the vicinity.
The sign that used to indicate this was a dried seafood and fishery market had also fallen off, making it difficult to tell what kind of building it was from the outside.
A family member of a market merchant, surnamed A, met in front of the building and expressed regret, saying, "My son has been doing business here for a long time, and I ran right out after seeing the news. My son finished remodeling the store not long ago, and I'm worried."
Another merchant who arrived shortly after silently gazed at the burned shellfish and seafood scattered across the floor.
Merchants expressed concern over their future livelihood, saying that this incident occurred at a time when they had prepared a large amount of seafood ahead of Chuseok and the holiday peak season.
Gazing at the building with anxious eyes, merchants let out deep sighs, saying, "It seems difficult to recover in a month," and "I'm worried about an immediate livelihood."
Choi, who said he has been doing business here for over 30 years, lamented, "Fish sales weren't going well anyway recently due to the hot weather, and with this happening ahead of the holiday and Chuseok, I don't know what to do. Electrical and cooling facilities are essential for seafood business, making it difficult to even conduct temporary operations."
He added, "We had brought in a lot of goods ahead of the peak season, but they vanished without a trace due to the fire. We need a way to sustain our livelihood right away."
The fire occurred at the market's live fish section at 11:13 p.m. the previous day.
Fire authorities extinguished it in four hours, but 19 stores (1,452 square meters), fixtures, and live fish were burned.
An official from the provincial fire headquarters said, "We deployed all available personnel and equipment to put out the flames as quickly as possible," adding, "We plan to investigate the exact cause of the fire and the scale of property damage through a joint inspection with related agencies."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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