◀ anchor ▶
These days, you must be doing a lot of so-called ‘fire-mong’ to rest while watching fireworks.
I sometimes make fire with an ethanol furnace in the house, but it was still vulnerable to fire.
Correspondent Lee Chae-yeon.
◀ Report ▶
Smoke pours out of the windows on the second floor of the apartment.
A resident was fueling an ethanol furnace at home, and the ethanol vapor ignited and spread.
Seven residents were treated at the hospital in the fire, and regarding 20 people were evacuated.
I put fuel in a decorative ethanol furnace that is readily available on the internet.
In the blink of an eye, a fire erupts.
When the furnace tops over, the flame spreads along the leaked ethanol.
The surface temperature of ethanol on fire rises close to 300 degrees, but the flame is difficult to see in bright light.
It might lead to a big fire when you think the fire is out and put fuel in it.
[나용운/국립소방연구원 연구사]
“Ethanol is relatively invisible and odorless, so it’s difficult to recognize the state of retention (oil vapor).”
The fire spread as it was when three out of seven ethanol furnaces on the market fell down, which the Fire Department and the Korea Consumer Agency investigated.
In some cases, there were no fire or burn precautions in the instruction manual, or only in foreign languages.
Unlike Europe and Australia, Korea does not yet have safety regulations for ethanol furnaces.
[김만호/한국소비자원 위해정보국장]
“We plan to recommend improvement of labeling and provision of dedicated fire extinguishing tools to six product vendors, while requesting (relevant ministries) to prepare safety standards such as safety and caution labeling.”
In the past two years, there have been 13 fire accidents caused by ethanol furnaces nationwide, in which 15 people were injured.
This is Chaeyeon Lee from MBC News.
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