[Anchor]
Major fires have frequently broken out in Guryong Village in the past. Because many of the temporary buildings are made of easily combustible materials like wooden plywood and are clustered closely together, any fire that starts quickly escalates into a massive blaze.
Reporter Lee Tae-gwon inspected the site firsthand.
[Reporter]
Guryong Village, an unauthorized shanty town that formed when displaced residents gathered starting in the 1970s due to development in the Gangnam area of Seoul, once housed around 1,100 households. However, following its designation as an urban development zone in 2016 and subsequent relocation efforts, only 169 households remain.
In this unauthorized shanty town, large and small fires have broken out continuously since 2014 until early this year.
The buildings in the village are clustered so closely together that a single person can barely squeeze through the alleys.
Most of them are made of materials that catch fire easily, such as wooden plywood and cotton bales, and with LPG gas cylinders also present, the area remains highly 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 measures are rendered useless due to the large number of vacant homes.
[Seo Gwang-ryeol / Guryong Village Resident: There are so many vacant houses now. And there aren't many households actually living here anymore. Since it is right next to vinyl and blankets, if a fire catches, it cannot be put out....]
As an alternative, the fire authorities planned to install automatic fire extinguishers in every household—devices designed to detect a fire and spray extinguishing agents from the ceiling.
However, the plan was ultimately scrapped because the buildings themselves are targeted for demolition and it is difficult to install such equipment on the ceilings of temporary structures.
Firefighting infrastructure is also vulnerable.
During this recent fire as well, a shortage of firefighting water hindered containment efforts, and fire engines were unable to enter the narrow alleys, making initial suppression difficult.
[Lee Young-ju / Professor, Department of Fire Protection Engineering, Kyungsil University: The buildings themselves are illegal, so they obviously would not have followed facility standards related to firefighting or fire safety. Managing the factors that could cause a fire more actively from a managerial standpoint is probably the most realistic approach.]
As fires are likely to recur amid poor firefighting equipment and environments, experts advise that tailored fire safety measures for vulnerable unauthorized areas—such as securing minimum fire lanes—must be established.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Reported by Lee Tae-gwon, Video by Kim Hangyul, Video Editing by So Ji-hye, Graphics by Byun Dayoung)
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