NFA Launches Joint Investigation Task Force to Determine Cause of Firefighter's Death in Bucheon

The National Fire Agency (NFA) announced that it will launch a joint investigation task force to determine the cause of the firefighter's death in the line of duty at a factory fire site in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, and to prevent similar accidents from recurring.

The joint investigation team consists of 22 members, including the Director-General for Planning and Coordination of the NFA as the head, officials from the NFA and the Gyeonggi Provincial Fire and Disaster Headquarters, the National Fire Research Institute, and external experts, with participation from the firefighters' union as well.

The joint investigation team will operate for 30 days and plans to examine the entire on-site response process, ranging from the initial situation response to fire suppression and rescue operations.

In particular, the task force plans to comprehensively review whether the storage and handling processes of the large amounts of hazardous materials found at the fire site were illegal, whether fire prevention measures were adequate, and whether there were structural risks in the apartment-style factory building, in order to formulate recurrence prevention measures.

Choi Yong-chul, head of the National Fire Agency, stated, "We will thoroughly investigate the cause of this fatal accident and closely examine overall safety management regarding unauthorized hazardous materials." He added, "Based on the investigation results, we will prepare practical improvement measures to ensure the safety of firefighters and prevent similar accidents from happening again."

(Photo provided by National Fire Agency, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.