Gyeonggi Fire Department: 'Large Fires Frequent and High Casualties' in Manufacturing-Centered Areas

It was found that the number of casualties caused by fires in manufacturing-centered areas within Gyeonggi Province was nearly twice as high as in densely populated cities. Property damage was also five times greater, and notably, the proportion of large-scale fires in manufacturing-centered areas accounted for 85% of the total.

Based on fire statistics in the Gyeonggi region over five years from July 2019 to June this year, and rescue and emergency dispatch data from the past year, the Gyeonggi Fire and Disaster Headquarters analyzed disaster (accident) occurrences by region (industry). The analysis showed that rural and urban types had higher rates of house and vehicle fires, while manufacturing-centered areas frequently experienced fires in factories and storage yards.

The number of casualties in manufacturing-centered areas (1,795 over five years) was 1.7 times higher compared to urban areas (1,046). Property damage in manufacturing-centered areas amounted to 1.7316 trillion won, more than five times higher than the 319.3 billion won in urban areas.

As a result of analyzing the disaster (accident) occurrence status by region (industry) based on fire statistics in the Gyeonggi area over five years from July 2019 to June this year, and rescue and emergency dispatch status over the past year, conducted by the Gyeonggi-do Fire and Disaster Headquarters. Gyeonggi-do Fire and Disaster Headquarters

In particular, out of 40 large-scale fires that occurred in the province over five years, 34 took place in manufacturing-centered areas, accounting for 85% of the total. Large-scale fires are defined as those with five or more deaths, ten or more casualties, or property damage exceeding 5 billion won.

Rescue dispatches were most frequent in manufacturing-centered urban areas, followed by manufacturing-centered rural areas, urban areas, and rural areas. The types of dispatches were fire (40%), location confirmation (21%), and traffic accidents (16%) in that order.

Emergency medical dispatches were also highest in manufacturing-centered urban areas, followed by urban areas, manufacturing-centered rural areas, and rural areas. In all regions, disease-related dispatches were most commonly for hypertension (36?42%), followed by diabetes (21?24%) and heart disease (around 10%).

The head of the provincial Fire and Disaster Headquarters stated, "This analysis suggests that uniform operations without reflecting regional characteristics may lead to inefficiencies. We plan to utilize the analysis results for future redeployment of firefighting resources, focused firefighting training, and safety education for residents."