Tuesday, February 20, 2001

By Jeremy Kirk
Seoul bureau chief

YONGSAN GARRISON — A Christmas Day fire that left a U.S. soldier with severe burns has prompted the Housing Division here to offer free smoke detectors to soldiers living in off-post apartments, officials said Friday.

The fire destroyed the first-floor apartment of Sgt. Joseph Crider and Sgt. Laurence Robinson in Huam-dong, a neighborhood close to Yongsan Garrison. Christmas lights are suspected to have caused the fire.

Although the Housing Division requires off-post apartments to have smoke detectors, the two soldiers’ apartment did not.

Crider suffered third-degree burns over 66 percent of his body and is recovering at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. The two soldiers work at the 8th Personnel Command. Robinson was not injured in the blaze.

"After the Sergeant Crider incident, we reviewed our procedure, and as a result, we issue smoke detectors at the Housing Division," said David G. Matthews, chief of the Yongsan Housing Division.

The Housing Division has about 200 smoke detectors available for people in off-post apartments, Matthews said.

Servicemembers and other Department of Defense employees are also now required to sign a sheet acknowledging they have working smoke alarms.

A Yongsan Fire Station official familiar with the fire said Friday that he didn’t know whether smoke detectors would have helped Crider escape the apartment.

But the devices are proven lifesavers, said Marvin M. Gunderson, Area II fire chief.

"Smoke detectors are the early warning for occupants," Gunderson said.

The Housing Division inspects some new apartments. Inspectors look for smoke detectors, but because of the large number of people the Housing Division serves, Matthews said they can’t make it to every apartment.

Crider and Robinson’s apartment wasn’t inspected. The soldiers were responsible for ensuring the apartment was equipped with smoke detectors, Matthews said.

After the fire, the apartment’s owner said she planned to install smoke detectors in the new apartment.

In their lease agreement, a written portion stipulated that an American smoke detector and fire extinguisher be provided by the landlord, Matthews said.

About a year ago, the Housing Division required tenants add that to their leases, he said. It’s likely legal action could be pursued against the landlord but would take years to wind through the courts, said Dennis Bohannon, spokesman for the 19th Theater Support Command.

According to a Yongsan fire official, 90 percent of residences in South Korea do not have smoke detectors. Only apartment buildings taller than 16 floors are required to have smoke alarms, he said.

To help protect people, the Housing Division directs them to newer places with enhanced safety features, Matthews said.

The Housing Division doesn’t have the manpower to continually reinspect all apartments again when a new tenant moves in, Bohannon said.

"The individual has to take some amount of responsibility for their own safety," Bohannon said.

If U.S. equipment is not available to the Korean landlord, the Housing Division says tenants should purchase it from the post exchange and subtract the amount from their rent, Matthews said.

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