Four Outstanding Public Officials Including Fire Lieutenant Choi Jae-ho, Who Trained 'Firefighting Drone Pilots', Awarded Commendations

2020 First Half Fire Department Active Administration Outstanding Public Officials Award Recipients. From the left in the photo: Fire Lieutenant Kim Ji-hoon, Noh Si-hwan, Choi Jae-ho, Fire Sergeant Lim Dong-young.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The National Fire Agency selected four individuals, including Fire Lieutenant Choi Jae-ho, who contributed to nurturing elite 'firefighting drone pilots' active in disaster and hazardous situations, as the first half of the year’s 'Outstanding Public Officials for Proactive Administration' and awarded them the Fire Agency Commissioner’s Commendation on the 20th.

Fire Lieutenant Choi Jae-ho, chosen as the best public official, was recognized for his contribution to the Central Fire Academy obtaining approval as a specialized drone education institution and for pioneering the firefighting drone operator training course, through which 46 firefighting drone operators were trained. This education enabled firefighting officials to receive stable drone operation training at a lower cost than external institutions.

In particular, drone pilots who completed this training rescued a citizen hanging from the railing on the 14th floor on February this year and played a significant role in life search operations during recent flood damage.

Fire Lieutenant Noh Si-hwan, who received the excellence award, established a mandatory practical training cyber course for firefighting technicians to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and implemented proactive administration to ensure no one failed to complete the training.

Additionally, Fire Sergeant Lim Dong-young (encouragement award) signed a nationwide integrated unit price contract to resolve the supply price differences that occurred when contracting aviation fuel for firefighting helicopters by city and province, saving an annual budget of 130 million KRW. Fire Lieutenant Kim Ji-hoon (innovation award) established a borderless wildfire response collaboration system between ministries through mutual personnel dispatch between the National Fire Agency and the Korea Forest Service.

The National Fire Agency awards such commendations to encourage proactive administration among firefighting officials and boost morale in the public service community. Previously, awardees were selected through evaluations by the 'National Fire Agency Proactive Administration Support Committee,' composed of professors and researchers, but this time, 30% of the evaluation score was reflected from the 'National Fire Agency Proactive Administration Monitoring Group,' consisting of citizens highly interested in firefighting.

A National Fire Agency official stated, "We will continue to listen to the voices of the public through the National Fire Agency website (Proactive Administration Echo) and actively reflect them in firefighting policies to ensure proactive administration that the public can feel."

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