Seongnam City Mobilizes Full Effort for Wildfire Prevention and Response... Emergency Duty System in Place

Wildfire Prevention and Suppression Team Conducts Firefighting Training
Deployment of Firefighting Water Helicopters and More

Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 28th that it is making every effort to prevent and respond to wildfires as the national crisis alert level has been raised to ‘Severe’ due to large-scale wildfires occurring nationwide.

Firefighting training of the wildfire specialized prevention and suppression team in Seongnam City. Provided by Seongnam City

The city has designated the Greenery Division at City Hall as the wildfire prevention headquarters and established wildfire situation rooms in the Parks Division at City Hall as well as relevant departments in Sujeong, Jungwon, and Bundang District Offices.

They plan to maintain an emergency duty system during weekends and holidays to promptly respond to any potential wildfire disasters in the area.

Wildfire watchers have been deployed at major hiking trails of Cheonggyesan, Bulgoksan, and Geomdansan Mountains, as well as around Yuldong, Yeongjang, and Daewon Parks, totaling 87 personnel.

Twenty members of the specialized wildfire prevention and suppression team are conducting firefighting training and other wildfire response activities. A separate rapid response team for nighttime wildfires is also on duty at the sites.

Wildfire surveillance drones will be flown twice a week until the national crisis alert for wildfire disasters is lifted to monitor and crack down on illegal burning activities.

In the event of a wildfire, firefighting helicopters capable of carrying 920 liters of extinguishing water will be deployed, and initial firefighting efforts will be carried out in cooperation with related agencies such as Seongnam Fire Station and Bundang Fire Station.

To this end, the city held a meeting with related agencies at City Hall on the 11th to share comprehensive wildfire prevention measures, and conducted joint firefighting drills for wildfire preparedness at Jeongtosa Temple and Daegwangsa Temple on the 21st and 25th, respectively.

According to the Forest Protection Act, lighting fires or bringing fire within 100 meters of forest areas is subject to a fine of up to 1 million KRW, and causing a wildfire by accident can result in imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million KRW.

A Seongnam City official said, “The dry atmosphere and strong winds raise concerns about the spread of wildfires,” and urged citizens to exercise special caution, including prohibiting the carrying of fire into forest areas.