Jeju Island to Operate 'Wildfire Prevention Headquarters' Starting Next Month

[Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won] Jeju Special Self-Governing Province announced on the 30th that it will operate a wildfire prevention headquarters from next month 1st to May 15th to ensure the safety of residents and protect forests.

Helicopter Wildfire Suppression
Photo by Jeju Province

During the wildfire caution period, Jeju Province issues a 4-level wildfire alert based on the wildfire risk (Interest → Caution → Warning → Severe), and expands the deployment of monitoring personnel in vulnerable areas and strengthens enforcement activities according to the action standards for each alert level.

In addition, ahead of the spring wildfire caution period, plans are in place to establish a rapid dispatch system through pre-inspection and maintenance of wildfire monitoring and firefighting equipment.

During the wildfire prevention period, wildfire prevention broadcasts with subtitles and unmanned broadcasting facilities will be used for guidance, and unmanned surveillance cameras will be operated for early detection and initial firefighting.

Firewatch personnel and specialized prevention and firefighting team members will also be deployed to vulnerable areas such as major hiking trails to strengthen regular patrols.

Along with this, a cooperative system will be established with the Jeju Forest Aviation Management Office of the Korea Forest Service to deploy one large helicopter for wildfire suppression, and in case of emergency, a golden time system will be operated to ensure a rapid dispatch system to proactively respond to wildfire occurrences.

Yang Jeyoon, Director of the Climate and Environment Bureau of Jeju Province, said, “Since wildfires frequently occur due to careless fires by hikers and waste incineration, we will make every effort to prevent burning of agricultural by-products and other waste through close cooperation with related departments.”

Meanwhile, looking at the nationwide wildfire occurrence status over the past 10 years, the main causes of occurrence were careless fires by hikers (32%) and burning wildfires (26%), accounting for 58% of the total, with most wildfires concentrated in spring. Recently, in Jeju Province, wildfires occurred in 2020 at Yugeon-eoreum in Kimnyeong-ri and last year in Seoho-dong.

Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won baekok@asiae.co.kr