FIRE DRILLS

[Anchor Lead]

It's been some 20 days since the devastating wildfires broke out in Gangwondo Province. But the danger persists as dry weather continues. A fire drill was held at Seoul's Bukhansan Mountain to better prepare against a blaze.

[Pkg]

​Members of a firefighting corps climb the mountain, carrying water hoses. They then connect the hoses and spread them on the hiking trails. Over 170 personnel including firemen, police officers and civil servants were mobilized this day for the exercise that involved laying hoses on a 1.4 kilometer stretch on the mountain that reached Bohyeon-bong Peak. With a regular fire engine, water can't be hoisted up to high altitude areas. High-pressure fire trucks were utilized as they can withstand more than double the normal pumping pressure.

[Soundbite] YANG JEOM-CHEOL(SEONGBUK FIRE STATION, SEOUL) : "We pumped water up to the Yeongchwisa Temple area using high-pressure tubes and confirmed water pressure reached as far as 1.5 km."

Meanwhile in the air, above the mountain, officials dropped water to check and see the parameters of how much they would be able to cover in a real fire fighting scenario. In cases like the Gangwon wildfires which occurred near residential towns, failure in the initial response can lead to huge damages. Based on what they learned from the exercise, the Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Management Headquarters will examine equipment performance to improve on fire fighting operations.