"Even Firefighters Should Avoid Danger When Possible" ... Current Officer Speaks Out After 4 Line-of-Duty Deaths

Four Killed While Battling Forest Fire in Sancheong
Current Firefighter Stresses: "Fire Suppression Must Prioritize Safety"

While extinguishing a large forest fire that occurred in Sancheong-gun, Gyeongnam, four people, including three forest fire fighters and one government official, died in the line of duty. A current firefighter expressed regret, saying, "If there is no one to save, I think the fire suppression team should not enter."

On the 22nd, an anonymous post titled "What makes me angry about forest fire fighters as a current firefighter" was uploaded on the workplace anonymous community 'Blind.' The author, A, said, "If there are no casualties, the basic strategy is to prevent further spread rather than actively suppress the fire with defensive tactics. When a forest fire occurs and strong winds blow, it is actually impossible to stop the spread," adding, "The best strategy is to secure a safe distance, spray water, and retreat if it seems dangerous."

Forest fire fighters belong to the Korea Forest Service and are the first to enter the forest fire site, even working during dangerous nighttime suppression operations. There is a misconception that firefighters suppress forest fires, but firefighters mainly prevent the fire from spreading to residential areas and rescue people rather than directly extinguishing the forest fire. Accordingly, A appears to express concern about the dangerous forest fire suppression environment faced by the fire fighters directly deployed to the scene and local government officials.

Furthermore, A disagreed with the statement by Acting President Choi Sang-mok, who said they would make every effort to extinguish the fire before sunset. He pointed out, "I hope decision-makers send a message not of 'We will actively suppress the fire' but 'We will prioritize personal safety in fire suppression.'" He added, "General government officials do not know much about fire suppression, so they should not be deployed unconditionally from above," and "It is really dangerous to go in without protective clothing, bare-bodied." In particular, A criticized the poor protective equipment provided to forest fire fighters. He said, "The protective equipment for forest fire fighters is too inadequate," and "All forest fire fighters should be required to wear all the supplied protective gear."

In fact, families of fire fighters who survived dramatically at the Sancheong-gun forest fire site said that the deployed fire fighters wore the usual forest fire monitoring uniforms. They also claimed that flame-retardant clothing was not provided. In response to these claims, the Korea Forest Service provides protective equipment such as helmets, flame-retardant fire suppression suits, masks, and safety shoes to fire fighters and government officials. A said that forest fire fighters should be required to wear all the supplied protective equipment.

Four people including government officials died in the Sancheong forest fire, with over 1,000 injured and displaced

A’s post was met with agreement from government officials. A netizen who identified as a "former local government official" said, "I was also deployed to a large forest fire site, but general government officials are deployed with no protective equipment, carrying only a backpack pump and a hook to extinguish smoldering fires," and appealed, "The commanders who order deployment are the problem. Do not deploy people dangerously for suppression." The parents of Mr. Kang, a government official in his 30s who died at the scene that day, also demanded a thorough investigation into the accident, arguing that non-firefighters were recklessly deployed.

Mr. Kang was deployed to the site to lead forest fire fighters and lost his life. His father said, "My son was a junior government official. He must have been ordered by someone from below to go up, but this is not clearly revealed, and the person responsible is unclear," adding, "He was neither a firefighter nor a professional, so a thorough investigation is necessary into how he was recklessly deployed." This tragedy occurred when eight fire fighters from Changnyeong-gun and one accompanying government official, deployed to suppress the fire in the Sicheon-myeon area of Sancheong-gun, Gyeongnam, were trapped by fierce flames. They were conducting suppression work on the 7th ridge of Gugok Mountain in Sancheong when they were trapped by a sudden backdraft and suffered fatal injuries.

While extinguishing a large forest fire that occurred in Sancheong-gun, Gyeongnam, four people, including three forest fire fighters and one government official, died in the line of duty. An active firefighter expressed sorrow, saying, "I believe that if there is no one to save, the fire suppression team should not enter." Nighttime forest fire suppression by the Sancheong forest fire fighters in Gyeongnam. Provided by the Korea Forest Service.

After receiving a report of entrapment from the Korea Forest Service, the fire authorities dispatched rescue personnel and recovered the bodies of two fire fighters around 5 p.m. on the 21st. The rescue team continued searching for the missing personnel using GPS tracking. Later, around 8 p.m., they found one additional body each of a government official and a fire fighter. The remaining five fire fighters evacuated on their own and were transferred to a hospital in Jinju for burn treatment.

Meanwhile, the forest fire suppression in Sancheong, Gyeongnam, has continued for four days, but the flames have been difficult to control due to strong winds and other factors. According to the Korea Forest Service announcement on the 24th, as of 6 a.m., the fire suppression rate in Sicheon-myeon, Sancheong-gun, remained at 71%, the same as at 9 p.m. the previous day. Helicopters were withdrawn at sunset the previous day, and about 1,500 special suppression personnel were deployed to prevent the fire from spreading to residential areas, conducting suppression work throughout the night. The Korea Forest Service plans to extinguish the main fire during the morning, but strong winds are expected to make suppression difficult. On that day, strong winds with maximum speeds of 10 to 15 m/s were forecasted in Sancheong, and a dry weather advisory was also in effect, making the fire likely to spread easily.