Seoul Fire Department Rescues 26 Including Emergency Patients During July Heatwave... 3,911 Patrols and 540 Vulnerable Area Checks

Emergency Rescue and First Aid Measures at Heatwave Sites: 12 Heatstroke Patients Transported, 7 Given On-Site Emergency Care
7 Citizens Rescued from Stuck Elevators, 130 Tons of Water Sprayed in Jjokbangchon

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Fire and Disaster Headquarters announced on the 6th that they conducted 3,911 patrols through ambulance teams returning from dispatch during the month of July, and carried out 540 on-site inspections in vulnerable areas using fire pump trucks during heatwave warnings.

Through these patrols and on-site inspections, the headquarters transported a citizen in their 60s showing symptoms of heatstroke outdoors in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu on July 16, and by the end of July, a total of 12 heat-related illness patients were urgently transported by the 119 ambulance teams, with 7 receiving emergency treatment on site. According to the headquarters, 6 of the heat illness cases occurred outdoors along main roads, 3 at workplaces, and 3 inside residences, with 9 patients aged 60 or older, accounting for 75 percent of all transported patients.

Due to the continuous heatwave increasing electricity usage, power outages occurred repeatedly in apartments and other places, resulting in a total of 13 incidents requiring fire department response. On the 27th at around 7:40 PM, a power outage at an apartment complex in Guro-gu, Seoul trapped 5 residents in an elevator, all of whom were rescued, with a total of 7 citizens saved from elevator entrapment incidents during power outages.

Additionally, the Fire and Disaster Headquarters sprayed a total of 130 tons of water over 58 times in 12 vulnerable shantytown areas during heatwave warnings, and confirmed the safety of 2,105 individuals through visits and welfare calls conducted jointly with volunteer firefighters targeting severely disabled people living alone who are vulnerable to heatwaves.

Meanwhile, since the 23rd of last month, the headquarters has been supporting disaster site recovery vehicles for medical staff and quarantine personnel working at frontline sites such as screening clinics during the heatwave.

Chief Choi Tae-young stated, “We ask everyone to pay extra attention to safety during the ongoing heatwave situation,” and added, “We will do our utmost to ensure citizen safety through prompt fire department response.”

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