[Scene video +] Bucheon Hotel fire investigation results..."Electrical cause of the air conditioner in the room".

[Anchor]
Police will announce the results of the investigation 40 days after the hotel fire in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, which killed 7 people and injured 12 others.

It is expected to explain the cause of the fire and whether there was a poor response from the hotel, so let's go to the scene.

Let's go to the scene.

[Kim Jongmin / Bucheon Fire Accident Investigation Division Head]
I'm the head of the Bucheon Hotel Cobos Fire Accident Investigation Division. Before the announcement, I would like to pray for the repose of the deceased who died due to an accident ahead of tomorrow's 49th edition, and express my deepest condolences and condolences to the bereaved families. I will announce the results of the investigation from now on. First, it's an overview of the accident and the investigation process. At around 19:37 on August 22, a fire broke out in the room of Hotel Cobos 810, located in Jung-dong, Wonmi-gu, Bucheon-si, killing 7 people and injuring 12 others.

The police immediately organized an investigation headquarters to conduct extensive investigations such as seizure and search and joint identification. This is the result of the investigation into the cause of the fire. A witness's statement that he saw a spark on the air conditioner wire in No. 810, CCTV footage of smoke erupting into the hallway inside No. 810, and when the inside of No. 810 was most severely combined, the fire occurred due to electrical factors on the air conditioner wire in No. 810, and the results of the National Forensic Service's evaluation also informed that electrical heat was the cause of the fire during the expansion of Asanhwa-dong, which is identified on the indoor and outdoor air connection wire of No. 810, and conducted a full investigation into the installation and management of the air conditioner.

According to the investigation, the old wires installed 14 years ago were used without the overall wiring work due to the difficulty of construction while replacing all air conditioners in the hotel in 2018, and if the length of the existing wires is short, the defect was loosely closed only with insulating tape without safety devices such as sleeves while connecting new wires. Although the air conditioner repairman recommended the electrical wiring problem several times, the fire was confirmed to have occurred due to incomplete contact with the defective parts and increased resistance. This is the result of the investigation into the cause of the increased casualties.

Fire and smoke spread rapidly to the ninth floor through an open cabin door and an open emergency exit fire door along the corridor to the parking lot. Even though the fire alarm through the heat sensor in room 810 was operated normally in the early stages of the fire, the hotel manager on duty arbitrarily stopped the fire alarm and reactivated it only after confirming the fire, delaying the evacuation of guests by 2 minutes and 24 seconds, resulting in greater casualties.

As described above, inadequate electrical wiring construction, long-term neglect, fire fighting facilities such as fire doors, and evacuation devices such as simple stiffeners were neglected, leading to a major disaster due to the lack of safety education. Accordingly, the investigation headquarters filed an arrest warrant for a total of four hotel owners, operators, and managers who were booked on charges of professional negligence and death. Here are the results of an investigation into the rescue process at the time of a guest who died while jumping into an air safety mat. Reconstructing the situation on the ground, the fire spread into Room 807, which was quickly opened in the hallway, and the fire was strong at the time, making it difficult for rescuers to enter, and there was no simple stiffener, so the fall of the air safety mat was the only way out for isolated guests.

In the absence of a systematic manual, police officers were mobilized to develop the mat relatively quickly in an urgent field situation and then tried to narrow the gap between the mat and the building, and considering the estimated circumstances that guests were forced to choose to fall in a strong fire, it was difficult to blame the fire for the result of falling into the air safety mat and dying. Finally, it's a future plan. We will notify the relevant agencies of the improvement in the operation of fire rescue equipment confirmed through the investigation and the necessity of mandatory installation of door closures of hotel guest houses. Thank you.