Jeonnam Fire Department 'Safety Control Tower Playing Its Role' Responding Within 1 Hour in All Zones

Operation of Infectious Disease Crisis Response Headquarters and 119 Life Safety Patrol Team, etc.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Jeonnam Fire Headquarters (Chief Ma Jaeyoon) is playing a pivotal role as a land disaster safety control tower.

Since newly settling in Jangheung last January, it has enabled one-hour response times across all regions in the province and is operating an Infectious Disease Crisis Response Support Headquarters. It is also focusing efforts on operating the nation’s first 119 Life Safety Patrol.

According to the Jeonnam Fire Headquarters on the 13th, in the first half of this year, alongside fire, rescue, and emergency medical activities, it operated the ‘Infectious Disease Crisis Response Support Headquarters’ and transported 6,473 confirmed and suspected patients.

It operated the ‘119 Disaster Psychological Support Team’ to provide psychological counseling to 220 isolated individuals and residents.

3,788 Jeonnam firefighting officers, accounting for 93.9%, have completed their first vaccine dose, and all are expected to complete their second dose by the end of this month.

Additionally, 2,089 firefighting personnel supported local prevention centers, transporting 430 patients with adverse reactions, and 977 members of volunteer firefighting teams in each city and county assisted with pre-screening forms and guided vaccination candidates at local vaccination centers.

Reflecting the characteristics of regions with a high elderly population, the nation’s first ‘119 Life Safety Patrol’ was piloted in two locations, Gangjin and Jangheung, starting in May. This is a community-based firefighting service that directly visits vulnerable groups to identify and resolve daily inconveniences.

Due to explosive public response and active support from the provincial council, the project budget was included in the supplementary budget and will expand to all 22 cities and counties starting next month.

Furthermore, relocating to Jangheung has enabled one-hour response times across all regions in the province. The number of field personnel was reinforced by 459, the 119 Special Rescue Team was established at the Fire Headquarters, and field command units were newly created at five fire stations to respond more professionally and systematically at disaster sites.

To provide equal firefighting services throughout Jeonnam, 499 emergency fire extinguishing devices accessible to anyone and 484 fire extinguisher boxes in alleyways were maintained and distributed in island and mountainous areas.

To prevent water-related safety accidents during summer, about 130 firefighting personnel are deployed daily at 30 beaches, rivers, and valleys to operate the 119 Water Rescue Team.

To prepare for typhoons and floods, the budget was increased by 430 million KRW to reinforce 156 pieces of water rescue equipment across 13 categories, including rescue boats, and an emergency duty system was established to respond to weather-related disaster warnings.

To prevent similar incidents like the Coupang logistics warehouse fire in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, fire inspections were conducted on 1,843 specific fire safety targets including logistics warehouses and high-rise buildings in the province, resulting in 5 arrests and 67 fines, with a total of 1,332 violations corrected.

Proactive preventive administration was promoted, including fire safety measures for large fire-vulnerable targets, reinforcement of fire safety facilities in traditional markets, and facilities for vulnerable evacuees, achieving a 34.9% reduction in property damage and a 7.7% decrease in casualties compared to the previous year.

Efforts are also being made to strengthen welfare policies to boost employee morale and to create an organizational culture without generational conflicts.

A mind and body recovery program was operated for 1,431 fire station employees, and the ‘Legal Support TF Team’ supported applications for official work-related medical care approvals, resulting in 12 approvals out of 14 applications, with 2 still in progress.

Through the ‘Integrity Generation Empathy Contest,’ 18 videos produced by employees were selected and encouraged to promote empathy and communication between older generations and the MZ generation. An internal online ‘Employee-Only Generation Communication Room’ was also operated to facilitate discussions.

Chief Ma Jaeyoon stated, “We will strive even harder to provide higher quality safety services so that residents can live safe lives.”

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