Water Pipe Accidents

[Anchor Lead]

Some people wind up heating wires around their tap water pipes to prevent them from bursting in the cold season. However, consumers are advised to exercise extra caution and use certified products only, as heating wires may cause fires due to overheating or when exposed to water.

[Pkg]

A fire at a sports complex in Jecheon last winter killed 29 and injured 40 others. One of the reasons behind the inferno was heating wires wound around water pipes. A test on a heating wire used to prevent water pipes from freezing in the winter shows that when the severed part of the wires was brought into contact with water and connected to a power supply, smoke began to rise and in a matter of seconds the wire caught fire. The flames spread to the insulating materials wrapped around heating wires to boost their thermal effect, and soon reached the top of the building. KBS has found that substandard heating wires of dubious quality are easily available to consumers. Experts advise using certified products only. And even certified wires need insulation caps to prevent accidents. Winding up long wires or overlapping them is also dangerous. Detectors that shut out power supply automatically when the wires become overheated are also essential.

[Soundbite] Lee Young-byung(Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters) : "Fires occurring in outdoor facilities such as parking lots and places with exposed pipes are mostly caused by heating wires."

Every year, more than 50 cases of fire are caused by heating wires in Seoul alone.