[Anchor]
The fire at Guryong Village, the last shantytown in Gangnam, Seoul, was barely extinguished early yesterday morning, 13 hours after it started. However, multiple fires have broken out in this area before. Because vulnerable, makeshift buildings are densely clustered together, putting out the fires has been difficult.
Reporter Lee Tae-gwon checked the scene.
[Reporter]
Guryong Village, an unauthorized shantytown formed by displaced residents gathering since the 1970s due to development in the Gangnam area, was once home to some 1,100 households. However, following its designation as an urban development zone in 2016, residents began moving out, leaving only 169 households remaining today.
Large and small fires have continuously broken out in this unauthorized shantytown since 2014 until early this year.
The buildings in the village are packed so closely together that a person can barely squeeze through.
Most of them are made of materials that catch fire easily, such as plywood and cotton batting, and even store LPG gas cylinders, making them vulnerable to fires.
Following a fire in January, the Seoul Metropolitan Government distributed fire extinguishers and smoke detectors to each household, but critics point out that these are useless because many houses are vacant.
[Seo Kwang-ryul / Guryong Village Resident: There are so many vacant houses now. So there aren't many households actually living here anymore. With vinyl and blankets right there, once a fire catches, you can't put it out....]
As an alternative, fire authorities planned to install automatic fire-extinguishing systems in each household that detect fires and spray fire-suppressing chemicals from the ceiling.
However, the plan fell through because the buildings themselves are slated for demolition and it is difficult to install them on the ceilings of makeshift structures.
Firefighting infrastructure is also inadequate.
During this fire, a shortage of firefighting water caused difficulties in putting out the flames, and fire engines were unable to enter the narrow alleys, struggling with initial suppression.
[Lee Young-joo / Professor, Department of Fire Protection Engineering, Kyungsil University: The buildings themselves are illegal, so there is no way they followed facility standards related to firefighting or fire safety. A more realistic approach would be to manage the factors that can cause fires more actively from a managerial perspective.]
As fires are likely to recur amid poor firefighting equipment and environments, experts advise that measures for fire-prone areas tailored to unauthorized villages, such as securing minimum fire lanes, must be established.
(Video reporting: Hangyul, Video editing: So Ji-hye, Design: Dayoung)
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