During the Off-Season, Monthly Salary of 1.8 Million Won to Become a 'Sanbul Gamsiwon'... Elderly Applicants Repeatedly Experience 'Cardiac Arrest'

Recent Fatal Accidents in Gunwi, Changwon, and Ulsan Within the Past Week
Majority in Their 60s... Controversy Over 'Golden Time' Response Lapses in Gunwi

A wildfire lookout is monitoring to prevent wildfires caused by farmers burning trash.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongwook Park] There have been a series of deaths during physical fitness tests for wildfire watchers. On the 27th, a 59-year-old candidate died in Gunwi-gun, Gyeongbuk Province, and within the past ten days, three people have died in places such as Changwon and Ulsan.

These accidents are side effects of raising the physical fitness screening standards by local governments as the number of elderly applicants during the off-season farming period increases. Therefore, there are concerns that the emergency response system for cardiac arrest, considering that most applicants are aged 60 or older, is inadequate.

According to Gunwi-gun on the 28th, at around 11:21 a.m. the previous day in Dongbu-ri, Gunwi-eup, Gunwi-gun, Gyeongbuk Province, a 59-year-old man, Mr. A, who applied to become a wildfire watcher, died of cardiac arrest after completing the physical fitness test. He collapsed and never regained consciousness after carrying a 15 kg pump on his back and moving 1.3 km from the foot of the mountain to the forest road during the physical fitness test.

On that day, 60 people took the physical fitness test to become professional firefighting personnel at the Gunwi-gun headquarters, including Mr. A. They had to give their all to overcome a 2:1 competition ratio to become one of the 30 professional firefighting personnel. This is because they could only get a chance to pass by completing a certain section even one second faster.

Gunwi-gun’s wildfire watchers are divided into professional firefighting personnel belonging to the headquarters and wildfire watchers belonging to the eup and myeon (township) offices. The hiring procedures and screening standards are similar. Separately, at a different time on the same day, 159 people who applied for wildfire watcher positions in eight eup and myeon areas had to undergo the same physical fitness test to be listed among the successful candidates (expected 89).

Once hired as wildfire watchers, they receive a monthly salary of about 1.8 million KRW. Whether they are professional firefighting personnel at the headquarters or wildfire watchers in eup, myeon, or dong (neighborhood) offices, they receive similar treatment as they are subject to the minimum wage system. They receive their salary for about seven months during the wildfire prevention period, mainly in winter and spring, within a one-year contract period.

The recruitment format and test procedures for wildfire watchers are similar in other local governments nationwide. Anyone aged 18 or older can apply to be a wildfire watcher, but most test takers are aged 60 or older. This year, the physical fitness test standards have uniformly become more stringent across local governments nationwide.

Until last year, the standards and procedures for selection by local governments and each eup, myeon, and dong were different, but they were unified in May this year according to the new "Wildfire Watcher Operation Standards" by the Korea Forest Service. As the number of applicants increased, local government departments complain that they had no choice but to strengthen the standards to increase physical fitness discrimination.

The problem is whether an emergency system for these elderly applicants is properly established. There was also controversy over inadequate response regarding the death accident at the Gunwi-gun physical fitness test site.

A 50-year-old applicant who took the test for wildfire watchers in Gunwi-gun that day said, "At the site where about 200 people aged 50 to 70 were taking the physical fitness test in the hills, medical staff should have been stationed at the start and finish points," adding, "There were no emergency personnel at the finish point, and it seems that the golden time was missed because of this."

In response, a Gunwi-gun forestry protection department official explained, "One ambulance and a public health doctor and nurse were waiting at the starting point," adding, "To deploy personnel to the finish line, all health center staff would have to be dispatched."

He continued, "At this time of year, entering the off-season farming period, there is a tendency for older residents to want to work as wildfire watchers every year," and "Although this year’s physical test section is about twice as long as last year’s, considering the slope, it was not judged to be excessive."

Meanwhile, on the 21st at the Ulsan wildfire watcher test site, a 60-year-old candidate collapsed and died after being evaluated for carrying a 15-liter water container and running back and forth about 1 km on a playground in about 12 minutes. On the 23rd in Changwon, Gyeongnam Province, a 71-year-old candidate who took the same test died from cardiac arrest.