Budget of 3.5 Billion KRW Allocated for Firefighter Trauma Treatment
1 Billion KRW for Fire Big Data Analysis, 700 Million KRW for Fire Investigation Research Field, etc.
[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] A budget of 3.157 billion KRW will be invested next year for the construction of the National Fire Hospital for the rehabilitation and treatment of firefighters. More than 3.5 billion KRW has also been allocated for the health management and safety support of fire officials.
The National Fire Agency announced on the 2nd that the final approved budget for next year, passed at the National Assembly plenary session, is 220.8 billion KRW. This amount is 19.7 billion KRW (9.8%) higher than this year's main budget of 201.1 billion KRW, and 200 million KRW (0.1%) more than the government's proposed budget.
Personnel expenses and basic expenses were confirmed at 60.2 billion KRW and 8.4 billion KRW respectively, the same as the government's proposal, while the budget for 40 projects including the construction of the National Fire Museum was increased by 200 million KRW to 152.2 billion KRW compared to the original government plan.
By project, 548 million KRW was newly allocated for the construction of the National Fire Museum, scheduled for completion in 2024. The National Fire Museum, established to strengthen the identity of firefighting and to learn safety culture through historical lessons, will break ground for the first time 16 years after its establishment basis was created.
From next year, national port management for fire safety will be carried out sequentially over seven years. Among 14 ports considering the frequency of arrivals and departures, fire stations will be built and fire vessels deployed at eight locations for special management, with a related budget of 1.4 billion KRW allocated in 2021.
The National Fire Agency will also start integrated management projects for 31 helicopters nationwide (700 million KRW) and the construction of earthquake preparedness training facilities and stockpile bases (500 million KRW) to establish a nationwide integrated disaster response system following the nationalization of firefighting. To prepare in advance for disasters, a budget of 1 billion KRW has been secured for analyzing hundreds of thousands of fire big data cases, and 700 million KRW has been allocated for the development of fire investigation techniques and advancement of fire investigation research.
Additionally, a budget of 3.2 billion KRW has been allocated for the construction of the National Fire Hospital for research and treatment of fire-related diseases, and 3.5 billion KRW for trauma treatment of fire officials.
Budgets organized by other ministries include 35.9 billion KRW from the Ministry of Health and Welfare for emergency medical funds supporting the 119 ambulance service, and 3.4 billion KRW from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance for the National Fire Research Institute building relocation and national property management funds.
Lee Heung-gyo, Planning and Coordination Officer of the National Fire Agency, said, "We will focus on reducing the gap in fire services between cities and provinces to ensure equal fire services anywhere in the Republic of Korea," adding, "We will execute the budget to establish a disaster response system while building capabilities to respond to disasters in advance by utilizing big data and other resources."
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