Fire Sergeant Kim Hyun-geun of Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters Wins Grand Prize at 'Situation Management Best Practice Competition'

Firefighter Kim calmly responds to the sound of the handset being tapped by a caller unable to speak due to a chronic illness

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Fire Chief Kim Hyun-geun, affiliated with the Gyeonggi-do Fire and Disaster Headquarters, received the Grand Prize at the 'Situation Management Best Practice Competition' hosted by the National Fire Agency.

The Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters announced on the 28th that Fire Chief Kim Hyun-geun of the Disaster Comprehensive Command Center won the Grand Prize at the '2nd Situation Management Best Practice Competition' held on the 26th by the National Fire Agency for his case of 'a laryngeal cancer patient tapping the receiver to report.'

According to the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters, on April 13th at around 4:18 a.m., Fire Chief Kim received a report call where only the sound of tapping on the receiver was heard without any speech. When another call came one minute later with tapping sounds at regular intervals, Kim judged that the caller was unable to speak and guided the caller to tap once for "yes" and twice for "no."

Believing that the caller was requesting hospital transport assistance, Fire Chief Kim quickly dispatched an ambulance team. When it became difficult to confirm the exact address, he searched the caller’s previous report and dispatch history to identify the address and medical history, then relayed this information to the dispatched ambulance team.

The ambulance team arrived at the caller’s home and safely transported the patient to the hospital. This was a moment when Fire Chief Kim’s quick response skills shone by not simply dismissing the call as a false alarm but recognizing it as an emergency situation.

This competition was held for the second time this year, following last year, to discover and disseminate situation management cases that contributed to preventing human casualties through prompt and accurate situation assessment.

The judging was conducted by experts based on criteria such as composure in responding to 119 calls, willingness and approach to problem-solving regarding the report content, and the efforts of situation workers to resolve disasters.

Cho Chang-rae, head of the Disaster Comprehensive Command Center at Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters, emphasized, "Thanks to the calm response and swift action of the situation room staff, we were able to save a citizen in a critical situation. We will continue to take the lead in protecting the safety of residents by sharing various response methods for different situations."