Fire at Naejangsa Temple Daeungjeon▶ Click here for a larger view
In the fire that struck Daeungjeon in Naejangsa Temple, the’Thousand Years’ Temple, the fire department’s quick response came to light.
From the beginning of the fire, the fire was prevented from spreading to Naejangsan in the national park, a famous mountain in Honam, with quick and calm measures.
According to the Jeonbuk-do fire department headquarters on the 7th, a report from the monk Choi Mo (54) that a fire broke out at the Daeungjeon of Naejangsa Temple in Jeongeup City was received at 6:37 pm on the 5th.
The fire department notified the report situation to the Jeonbuk-do disaster situation room, the Korea Electric Power Corporation, and the police, and immediately sent fire fighting personnel and equipment to the site.
At 6:50 p.m., 13 minutes after the report, the’Response Phase 1’was issued to mobilize all the personnel from the fire department in charge, and this fact was also communicated to the Cultural Heritage Division of the Provincial Government in preparation for the loss of cultural properties.
Fire department head Kim Seung-ryong also asked the fire brigade members on the scene to pay special attention to lifesaving, prevention of safety accidents, and carrying out cultural properties.
The first arrival at Daewoongjeon was at 6:57 pm, 20 minutes after reporting.
Subsequently, 85 fire extinguishing personnel and 21 equipment such as pumps and tank cars arrived one after another from Sunchang, Gochang, and Buan fire stations adjacent to Naejangsan Mountain.
At that time, the fire had already engulfed the entire Daeungjeon Hall, and the fire department said that the inside of the temple was filled with a pungent odor when flammable substances were burned.
Fire at Naejangsa Temple Daeungjeon▶ Click here for a larger view
The firefighters dispatched to the scene controlled the surroundings and caught a big fire at 7:53 pm, about 1 hour and 20 minutes after the fire broke out. The first phase of the response was also lifted at this time.
The fire department, after clearing up the remaining fires and searching for people, spread the fact of the exhaustion to the media and related organizations at 9:10 pm.
Thanks to the rapid extinguishing process, no additional damage occurred except that the newly built Daewoongjeon Hall (165㎡), which was newly built by a fire in 2012, was burned down.
The Daeungjeon building is not a designated cultural property, and it has been found that there are no major cultural properties inside. It is also said that the Jeonbuk-do cultural property, ‘Chosun Dongjong’ in the temple was also safe.
Most of all, it was fortunate that the fire did not spread to Naejangsan, a national park surrounding Daeungjeon.
If a forest fire occurred in dry weather, it would have been invaluable.
An official at the fire department of the province said, “First of all, it is fortunate that there was no damage to people,” and “We are conducting an investigation on the scale of additional damage.”
The charred Daeungjeon▶ Click here for a larger view
It turned out that the reporter, the monk Choi, had been in conflict with the temple officials while drinking alcohol.
The police arrested Choi, who was at the scene, as a current offender, and filed an arrest warrant for arson of the prefectural building.
The interrogation of the suspect before arrest against Choi (substantial examination of warrant) will be held on this day.
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