Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, Launches Full-Scale Effort to Prevent Spring Wildfires

Operation of the Wildfire Prevention Headquarters Until May 15

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City is making every effort to prevent large-scale forest fires ahead of spring.

Gwangsan-gu announced on the 6th that it is implementing the '2023 Spring Forest Fire Prevention Comprehensive Plan' and will operate the Forest Fire Prevention Countermeasures Headquarters (Forest Fire Comprehensive Situation Room) until May 15.

The Forest Fire Prevention Countermeasures Headquarters is composed of the Director of the Citizens' Life Bureau as the head, 27 employees from the Parks and Greenery Division, and 7 neighborhoods. To ensure rapid forest fire prevention and initial extinguishing, emergency duty will be carried out without gaps on weekends and holidays.

In addition, a constant monitoring system will be established through inspection and maintenance of two unmanned forest fire surveillance cameras and three unmanned broadcasting devices installed on Yongjinsan and Mangsan Mountains.

To eliminate blind spots, 40 specialized forest fire prevention and extinguishing personnel will be intensively deployed to patrol 24 vulnerable forest fire areas, major hiking trails, and burning activities on rice paddies and field ridges.

In case of a large-scale forest fire, a permanent cooperation system with the Firefighting Aviation Unit and the Korea Forest Service (including Yeongam Forest Aviation Management Office) will be maintained for rapid aerial firefighting.

Focused guidance and crackdown on illegal burning and individual burning of agricultural by-products will be carried out mainly by the neighborhood administrative welfare centers and community leaders to minimize forest fire occurrences.

A Gwangsan-gu official said, “We will do our best to minimize forest fire damage through rapid initial response and efficient firefighting activities in case of forest fires,” and added, “We hope citizens actively participate in spring forest fire prevention.”