19 agencies and about 500 participants took part Tuesday at the Bukhansan National Park office in a full-scale exercise simulating an electric vehicle fire spreading to buildings and forest
Seoul's Seongbuk-gu said it successfully carried out the "2026 Safe Korea Disaster Response Drill" on Tuesday at the Bukhansan National Park office, simulating a large-scale compound disaster in which an electric vehicle fire spreads to nearby buildings and forest.
The exercise was built around a scenario in which an EV fire in the national park office's parking lot triggers a chain reaction, engulfing adjacent structures and woodland. Organizers designed it to assess the full cycle of disaster management — from initial response through recovery — and to strengthen coordinated cooperation among participating agencies.
About 500 personnel from 19 agencies took part, including Seongbuk-gu District Office, Seongbuk Fire Station, Bukhansan National Park Office, Seongbuk and Jongam police stations, Seongbuk Public Health Center, the 2188th military unit, Seoul National Forest Management Office, Jungbu Waterworks Business Office, Korea University Hospital, Korea Electric Power Corporation, the Korean Red Cross and Seongbuk-Gangbuk Office of Education.
At the drill site, search-and-rescue, firefighting and resident evacuation operations unfolded in rapid succession. As the risk of the wildfire spreading grew, Seongbuk-gu District Mayor Lee Seung-ro moved immediately to the scene and took direct command, activating both a wildfire integrated command post and a disaster scene integrated support headquarters.
Seongbuk-gu's volunteer disaster prevention corps also participated, adding weight to the on-site response. Under the direction of firefighters, corps members used backpack pumps to help extinguish residual flames and controlled visitor access to hazard zones, fully carrying out the civilian support roles expected in an actual disaster.
Simultaneously, a tabletop exercise at the district office got under way as the disaster safety operations center rapidly disseminated situation updates and convened an assessment meeting, activating the disaster safety countermeasures headquarters. A headquarters meeting chaired by the deputy district mayor brought together 13 disaster-cooperation task units to discuss emergency medical response, damage containment and urgent recovery measures. The drill also demonstrated seamless real-time voice and video communication between the headquarters and the Bukhansan site via the public safety LTE network.
"Recent disasters occur in unpredictable forms and lead to compound damage, which makes the capacity to respond immediately on the ground more important than ever," District Mayor Lee Seung-ro said. "We will use this drill as an opportunity to further solidify our field-centered disaster safety management system and continue to strengthen our disaster response capabilities so that we can protect the lives and property of our residents in any crisis."
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
