Expansion of Fire Department Aerial Ladder Trucks Nationwide... Strengthening Maintenance of Small Rivers and Bridges

Next Year, 900 Billion Won Fire Safety Grant Allocated... 500 Billion Won Invested in Expanding Firefighting Personnel

On the 27th, Civil Defense Day, firefighters are extinguishing a fire during a fire evacuation drill held at the Government Seoul Office Building. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Starting next year, all cities and provinces nationwide will be equipped with fire department aerial ladder trucks, and safety maintenance for small rivers and small bridges, which have repeatedly suffered damage from typhoons and floods, will be strengthened.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 28th that it will allocate 903.8 billion KRW of the 2021 Fire Safety Grant Tax to 17 cities and provinces across the country to expand fire and safety infrastructure projects. This amount is about 27% higher than last year's grant tax (714.2 billion KRW), which is analyzed to have increased due to the rise in individual consumption tax from increased cigarette sales and the raised support for fire personnel wages starting from April this year.

Of the Fire Safety Grant Tax, 502.1 billion KRW will be used for fire personnel wages to expand the insufficient firefighting workforce. According to the plan to recruit a total of 20,000 firefighters by 2022, a large portion will be allocated to provincial areas such as Gyeonggi, Gyeongbuk, Jeonnam, and Gyeongnam.

For project expenses supporting the expansion of local government fire and safety infrastructure, 401.7 billion KRW will be provided. The average allocation per city and province is about 21.3 billion KRW, an increase of approximately 11.3% (2.2 billion KRW) compared to 2020 (19.1 billion KRW). The cities and provinces receiving the largest allocations are Gyeonggi (37.3 billion KRW), Seoul (27.7 billion KRW), and Gyeongbuk (25.5 billion KRW), with Gyeonggi and Seoul mainly using the funds to reinforce aging and insufficient firefighting equipment.

In particular, next year, the fire and safety infrastructure project funds will be used to expand fire department aerial ladder trucks. Although the number of high-rise buildings is increasing mainly in urban areas, there are only 12 aerial ladder trucks in 9 cities and provinces nationwide. To enable efficient rescue and fire suppression in high-rise buildings, aerial ladder trucks will be introduced to seven cities and provinces without them, including Gwangju, Ulsan, Gyeongnam, Chungbuk, and Gyeongbuk.

Maintenance support will also be newly provided for small-scale high-risk facilities such as small rivers (secheon) and small bridges, which suffer significant damage every year from typhoons and heavy rains.

Cho Sang-myung, Director of Safety Management Policy at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, "We expect that support from the Fire Safety Grant Tax will reduce regional disparities in firefighting personnel and equipment among cities and provinces and improve fire services. We will continue to improve and develop the grant tax system and related laws to ensure that the central government provides more financial support to cities and provinces with poor fiscal conditions and high fire and safety investment needs."

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