The Fire Department announces on the 14th that it conducts 'Fire Safety Education on the Go' for elementary school lower-grade students near areas densely populated with old apartment complexes nationwide starting from the second week of July, ahead of summer vacation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. The photo shows the ongoing Fire Safety Education. /Courtesy of Fire Department

The Korea Fire Agency said on the 14th that it will conduct "visiting fire safety education" for lower-grade elementary school students near areas with a high density of aging apartment buildings starting from the second week of July, ahead of the summer vacation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

This education is a follow-up measure to the emergency response meeting of related agencies due to the casualties of children in apartment fires that occurred in Busan on June 24 and July 2. A total of 4 children died in the fire accidents.

To enhance children's disaster response capabilities and increase survival rates during fires, the Korea Fire Agency and the Ministry of Education plan to establish and conduct a program for education. The training will be conducted by professional fire safety instructors who will visit schools to provide theoretical lessons in conjunction with fire evacuation drills.

The educational target is schools among the 3,441 elementary schools nationwide that have not provided fire safety education in the past year. The Korea Fire Agency and the Ministry of Education plan to expand the targets to kindergartens and middle and high schools starting from the second semester.

The two agencies aim to reduce areas lacking fire safety education and expand effective education so that individuals can respond by themselves even in actual disaster situations.

Chun Chang-seob, head of the Korea Fire Agency's Life Safety Division, said, "Safety behaviors learned through repetition in childhood become powerful tools for protecting lives during actual disasters," adding, "I urge you to actively participate in safety experiences with your parents at home."

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