Fighting Urban Fires

[Anchor Lead]
The first response to a fire is the most critical. But many roads in Korea are so narrow that they prevent timely access for fire engines. In these cases, roadside fire extinguishers must be used to start putting out fire before the fire truck arrives.
[Pkg]
A fire engine barely passes through between cars parked on this narrow road. The fire truck arrived at the site past the crucial 5 minute golden time window, despite a distance of less than 2 kilometers. Last year, it also took over ten minutes for fire trucks to arrive at an apartment complex in Uijeongbu that had caught on fire, leaving a hundred casualties. The delay was again due to a narrow accessway. In Seoul alone, there are 700 areas that are difficult to access by fire trucks. When a fire breaks out in these areas, initial self-extinguishing efforts are most important. Fire authorities have decided to install 10,000 additional extinguishers in narrow alleys. Their design has also changed significantly. The extinguisher is kept inside a transparent plastic case with a red background and placed at eye level.
[Soundbite] Sim Hyeong-seob(Yongsan Police Station, Seoul) : "Fires often lead to combustion when you failto respond in the golden time window.Putting out flames using extinguishers in the earlystages is more effective than 10 fire trucks combined."
However, if the flames are strong enough to prevent people from approaching due to the heat, they are advised to evacuate and wait for the fire authorities.