Gyeonggi Fire Department, One Year Since National Position Transition... Major Achievements in Rescue, Emergency Medical Services, and Fire Prevention

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi-do Fire and Disaster Headquarters has achieved remarkable results in various fields such as rescue, emergency medical services, and fire prevention over the past year since the transition to a national system.

The Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters first increased its firefighting personnel by 744 last year to support on-site and preventive activities. Additionally, safety centers were newly established in six areas, including Seongbok-dong in Yongin. Next year, they plan to further increase firefighting personnel by 1,086 and establish 12 new 119 safety centers.

With this expansion of personnel and fire stations, the average arrival time of fire trucks at the scene last year was 7 minutes and 51 seconds, 21 seconds faster than in 2019 (8 minutes and 12 seconds). The number of fire incidents decreased by 5.3%.

Furthermore, the population served per firefighter decreased by 6.4%, from 1,410 in 2019 to 1,324 last year. The population served per paramedic also decreased by 3.8%, from 7,224 in 2019 to 6,959 last year.

The existing response system, which relied solely on firefighting forces from each city and province, was changed to an integrated city-province response system, laying the groundwork for the rapid deployment of firefighting personnel and equipment nationwide to large-scale and special disasters.

To proactively prepare for national large-scale disasters, the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters established a joint response dispatch system in 25 adjacent city and province border areas, including Seoul and Gangwon.

The transition to a national system also greatly contributed to establishing an emergency response system for COVID-19.

In March last year, the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters dispatched 24 ambulances and 94 paramedics to Daegu, a special infectious disease control area. At that time, ambulances from across the country gathered in Daegu to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, further strengthening the national infectious disease response system.

Lee Sang-gyu, head of the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters, emphasized, "The transition to a national system was possible thanks to the trust and support of the people, and to meet these expectations, we will spare no effort to strengthen disaster response capabilities. We will also promote various policies that residents can tangibly feel to realize a safer Gyeonggi-do."

Fire officials were unified into a national system after 47 years of dual organization as national and local systems, following the passage of related legislation in 2019.

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