National Fire Research Institute Opens New Gongju Headquarters: "Leading Fire Science and Technology"

A New Home 25 Years After Moving from Asan... Site Area Six Times Larger and Total Floor Area Three Times Larger
5-MW Fire Testing Facility and Battery Testing Lab Established... Institute Set to Become a Platform-Based Public Research Institution

The National Fire Research Institute has established a new headquarters in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, and is launching full-scale research to advance fire science and technology.

National Fire Agency Commissioner Choi Yongcheol conducts an on-site inspection at the new National Fire Research Institute building in Sagok-myeon, Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, on the 2nd. National Fire Agency

On November 2, the National Fire Research Institute held a relocation and opening ceremony for its new headquarters, along with a vision proclamation ceremony, at the new site in Sagok-myeon, Gongju, South Chungcheong Province.

In August 2026, the institute moved from Songak-myeon, Asan, South Chungcheong Province, to Sagok-myeon, Gongju. This comes about 25 years after it moved from Cheonan to Asan in December 2001. The relocation project was approved in December 2020, followed by a design competition in 2021 and the start of construction in 2023. The new headquarters was completed in April 2026.

The new headquarters was built on a site measuring 58,916 square meters, with a total floor area of 11,778 square meters. Compared with the former Asan headquarters, which had a 9,324-square-meter site and a total floor area of 3,974 square meters, the site is about six times larger and the total floor area about three times larger.

The facilities are arranged around the Research Administration Building, with the Special Research Building and Fire Testing Building to the east, and the Virtual Tactics Research Building and Hazardous Gas Response Research Building to the west.

The Research Administration Building houses office space, an evidence analysis lab, and a precision instrument analysis lab, enabling the institute to conduct research and administrative work at the same site. The Fire Testing Building is equipped with a 5-MW fire testing facility and a flame-spread testing lab, while the Special Research Building houses a firefighting equipment evaluation area, a battery testing lab, and a communications performance evaluation lab.

The Virtual Tactics Research Building contains an open-plan research space measuring 30x30 meters and both closed and individual virtual training facilities. The Hazardous Gas Response Research Building verifies on-site response technologies and equipment at testing and validation facilities that recreate subway and movie theater environments.

At the ceremony, the institute announced its vision to become “a leading institution in fire-service science and technology that creates value for public safety” and presented four core values: public safety, convergence research, fairness and trust, and cooperation and communication. It also set out three strategic priorities for becoming a platform-based public research institute: developing advanced firefighting technologies; establishing a fire prevention system based on fire testing and data sharing; and becoming a hub for fire safety and health.

“It is the National Fire Research Institute’s role to use science to address new types of fires and disasters,” said National Fire Agency Commissioner Choi Yongcheol. “We will provide all the support necessary so that researchers can pursue their work freely at the new site.”

“We will pool our research capabilities to ensure that the results achieved at the new headquarters translate into safety that firefighting personnel and the public can feel,” said Kim Yeonsang, head of the National Fire Research Institute.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.