Gyeonggi-do Fire Safety Guardian 'Firefighter Lee Jaehyun'... "Dreaming of a Safer World"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] "Wind? My small hope is that through my lectures, society becomes a little safer."

Fire Chief Lee Jae-hyun of the Bucheon Fire Station 119 Ambulance Team is a 'working mom paramedic' balancing childcare for her 11-year-old and 7-year-old sons with emergency medical duties. However, on her days off, she transforms into a fire safety instructor spreading safety education at schools, youth centers, and government offices.

After being appointed in 2006, Chief Lee encountered many people who were confused about how to respond during emergency dispatches. This experience led her to consider becoming a safety instructor herself.

Admiring senior instructors who passionately delivered fire safety lectures, Chief Lee did not hesitate to apply when she heard in 2017 that Gyeonggi Province was recruiting fire safety instructors.

Working rotating day and night shifts, preparing educational materials was initially challenging. But perhaps driven by a strong desire to share crisis response methods learned on-site with residents, she quickly found fulfillment and interest. Even after four years as an instructor, she still visits various locations once or twice a month to provide first aid, CPR, and children's safety education.

Chief Lee won the top prize at the Gyeonggi Province Fire Safety Instructor Competition held last September. Then, in February this year, representing Gyeonggi Province, she competed against experienced national fire safety instructors at the 6th Korea Fire Safety Instructor Competition and proudly earned the Encouragement Award, proving her status as a representative fire safety instructor of Gyeonggi Province.

Having felt proud over the past four years as a fire safety instructor, Chief Lee is now nurturing another dream this year: preparing more safety lectures and obtaining a fire safety education certification.

She said, "I usually practice by watching my facial expressions and mouth movements in the mirror. Sometimes I even lecture with my two sons sitting in front of me. My mother-in-law, husband, and two sons are always my strong supporters," adding, "I will continue to strive tirelessly to spread a culture of safety among residents as a fire safety instructor."

The Gyeonggi Province Fire and Disaster Headquarters operates a fire safety instructor system to establish a safety culture among residents. Fire safety instructors are selected fire officers with over five years of field experience and certain qualifications, who provide professional safety education at schools and various workplaces.

This year, 322 fire officers in Gyeonggi Province have taken on the role of fire safety instructors, conducting customized safety education by life cycle, occupation, and social group, covering disaster response methods and behavior guidelines for events such as fires and earthquakes.

Currently, due to the coronavirus, instructors' activities are temporarily suspended, but the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters will decide on resuming safety education after monitoring the infection spread.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.