“Anyone would have done the same thing,” Two men save an elderly couple

Kang Chung-seok (left) and Kim Jin-hong, LG Uplus employees who contained a fire and saved an elderly couple in a house in Soyang-myeon, Wanju-gun in Jeollabuk-do on August 23. Courtesy of LG Uplus

It was 2:10 p.m. August 23 in a rural village in Soyang-myeon, Wanju-gun in Jeollabuk-do. LG Uplus employees Kang Chung-seok (50) and Kim Jin-hong (45) were preparing to head to another location after they finished installing a home repeater. The two men were in charge of finding areas with poor telecommunication services where cell phone signals were weak and improving the quality of the signals. They were veteran partners who had been working together for nearly two decades.

After the two men started out for their next destination, they discovered smoke rising from a house nearby. Kim, who was born and raised in the countryside, instinctively knew that the smoke soaring into the sky was no ordinary smoke coming from a firepit.

“There’s a fire. Stop the car.” Kim urgently shouted to Kang, who was in the driver’s seat. By the time they got out of the car and dashed to the source of the smoke, the fire, which had started from a pile of wood under the eaves, was already spreading to the house. They quickly knocked on the front door, and an old man came out from the house. “There’s a fire. Hurry and come out, sir!” But the old man had an anxious look on his face. He said, “There’s a sick person inside.”

Kim and Kang both entered the house at the same time and found an old lady lying in a sickbed. With the fire covering the house, they could see a tangle of hoses, which appeared to be connected to the respirator and IV fluids, near the bed. They had no time to think. They just pulled the entire bed out of the house. After they got away from the house, they placed the old lady in the shade.

Then Kim pulled the hose from the outdoor tap and began putting out the fire. Meanwhile, Kang called 119 and reported the incident. Kang explained to the firefighter that they needed an ambulance because there was a patient who couldn’t get up. A few minutes later, ten fire engines and 35 firefighters arrived on the scene.

They were able to finally put out the fire 45 minutes later, only after they separated the sandwich roof panels and poured water inside. The outer wall, the roof, the boiler and all household items inside were burned, but thanks to Kang and Kim, there were no casualties. The elderly couple were safely transported to the hospital in an ambulance. The LG Uplus employees had remaining tasks in other areas, but they stayed put until the fire was completely under control.

The Jeonbuk Fire Service announced it would promote the 119 Safe House project, which will provide a new house for the elderly couple who lost their home so suddenly. LG Uplus is considering a reward from the company to show their support for the two employees who were willing to risk danger and sacrifice themselves for others.

Kang said, “When we discovered the fire, we both took action immediately. You couldn’t say who was first,” and added, “We were the ones who happened to be there. Anyone would have acted the way we did.”

Kim said, “We haven’t been able to contact the elderly couple after the incident, but I’d like to know if they are both healthy. If we get to visit the village again later, we will pay them a visit and see how they are doing.”