Jeonnam Fire Department Collaborates to Reduce Casualties from Forest Fires

Emergency Video Conference Held on the 27th

The Jeonnam Fire Headquarters (Chief Hong Young-geun) put their heads together to reduce casualties from forest fires.

Jeonnam Fire announced that on the 27th, they held an emergency video conference to discuss the current status of forest fires and measures to reduce casualties, following a series of casualties caused by recent forest fires.

The meeting was attended by Park Won-guk, Head of the Fire Headquarters Response and Prevention Division, and more than 60 people including heads and team leaders of 20 prevention and safety divisions across the province.

On the morning of the meeting, a wildfire in Jindo resulted in a fatality, and earlier on the 25th, a fatality occurred due to a forest fire in Yeosu, marking a series of casualties from recent forest fires.

Among 912 forest fires over the past three years, 383 cases (41.9%) occurred in spring, and among 49 casualties, 24 (48.9%) occurred during the spring farming season.

Accordingly, the Fire Headquarters and each fire station decided to actively promote campaigns such as prohibiting burning of rice paddies and field edges, village broadcasts banning garbage incineration, and voluntary patrol activities by volunteer firefighters.

In particular, since most casualties occur during efforts to extinguish fires, they decided to strengthen education by visiting village chiefs' meetings and village halls to prioritize evacuation first when a fire breaks out.

A representative of the Jeonnam Fire Headquarters said, “No one thinks that a disaster will occur from burning a small fire,” and added, “We ask for the active participation of residents in eradicating fire-starting activities.”