Fire Suppression Reduced Property Damage by 15.8 Trillion Won Last Year

Fire Department Reports 40,102 Fires Last Year and Calculates 'Fire Damage Reduction Amount'

Fire in a Detached House in Bukahyeon-dong, Seoul / Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Osangdo] A survey revealed that the scale of property damage prevented by fire suppression efforts by firefighting authorities nearly reached 16 trillion won last year alone.

The National Fire Agency announced on the 21st that, after calculating the 'fire damage mitigation amount' for 40,102 fires that occurred last year, it was found that approximately 15.886 trillion won in property damage was prevented. This means that on average, about 396 million won in property damage was prevented per fire.

The property damage mitigation amount is calculated assuming the total loss of the entire object on fire, such as buildings. It is the amount obtained by subtracting the damage caused by the fire from the total property value.

For example, in the case of a fire that occurred last July at a waste warehouse in Ansan-si, Gyeonggi Province, the expected property damage if completely destroyed was 58.3 billion won, but the firefighting team succeeded in initial suppression, limiting the damage to 2.19 million won.

The National Fire Agency reported that the total property damage at fire scenes last year amounted to 857.2 billion won. Human casualties included 285 deaths and 2,230 injuries, totaling 2,515 people. The number of people rescued at fire scenes was 3,402, and the number evacuated was 27,688.