Daejeon City Organizes 'Gongmuwon Jinhwadae' to Strengthen Response to Large-Scale Wildfires

Composed of 350 City and District Officials...
Step-by-Step Response System in Operation

Daejeon City organized a civil servant firefighting team on the 7th to effectively respond to large-scale wildfires. / Daejeon City

Daejeon City recently announced that it will strengthen its wildfire response system by organizing a civil servant firefighting team, as wildfires have become larger and more frequent due to abnormal climate conditions.

The civil servant firefighting team consists of a total of 350 members, including 50 staff from city hall and 60 staff from each district office. They are responsible for extinguishing remaining embers and monitoring for reignition, and are deployed to the field after completing more than 10 hours of theoretical and field training each year.

This measure aims to prevent on-site confusion caused by the deployment of unskilled personnel, as seen during the wildfire in Giseong-dong, Seo-gu in 2023, and to establish a more systematic firefighting system.

During the training session held at the city hall auditorium on the 7th, a professional instructor from the Korea Forest Service's Aviation Management Headquarters explained how to prevent safety accidents at wildfire sites and how to protect important facilities such as residential areas by establishing firebreaks during wildfire spread.

Daejeon City operates a step-by-step wildfire response system. In the initial stage of a fire, forest officials and the specialized wildfire prevention and firefighting team take the lead in extinguishing the fire. From the wildfire spread stage, the general civil servant firefighting team is also deployed. For medium-sized wildfires of 50 hectares or more, district office civil servant firefighting teams are mobilized, and for large-scale wildfires of 100 hectares or more, city hall civil servant firefighting teams are deployed.

Yoo Deukwon, Deputy Mayor for Administrative Affairs of Daejeon City, said, "The operation of the civil servant firefighting team will enable a swift and systematic wildfire response," adding, "We will do our best to strengthen firefighting capabilities through professional training and to protect the lives and property of citizens."