[Plaza] Isanggyu Lee, Head of Gyeonggi Fire and Disaster Headquarters, 'The Role of Firefighting in Response to Climate Change'

The global festival, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, concluded a few days ago. While the world was united in enthusiastic support, heating up the global community, another reason caused many parts of the world to suffer from intense heat during this period. The reason was wildfires occurring not only in Europe?including Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Spain?but also in the western United States, which continue to this day.

These large-scale wildfires are attributed to abnormal weather conditions such as record droughts and heatwaves, which are generally considered to be caused by climate change due to global warming. Climate change leads to extreme heatwaves and droughts in summer, along with frequent typhoons and heavy rains, while winter can bring cold waves and heavy snowfall. In South Korea, unprecedented long rainy seasons and heavy rains last year caused landslides and floods nationwide, resulting in significant casualties. Natural disasters like these cause enormous damage to humanity.

Firefighting is tasked with responding to disasters and protecting the lives and safety of citizens, and its role is expected to become even more important as climate change progresses. For example, on July 28 last month, a large-scale wildfire broke out in Antalya Province in southern Turkey, but residents criticized the lack of fire trucks and firefighting helicopters in the area, leaving them helpless. The absence of firefighting infrastructure capable of responding to unexpected sudden disasters was a major problem.

Our firefighting services have continuously strived to strengthen disaster response capabilities and laid the foundation through the nationalization of firefighting personnel in April 2020. During the wildfire in Goseong, Gangwon Province in May of the same year, a nationwide mobilization order was issued to quickly deploy personnel and equipment, enabling rapid containment. Gyeonggi Province also supported with 45 vehicles and 115 personnel. Although the scale may differ, this contrasts with the wildfire response in Turkey.

In addition, Gyeonggi Province Firefighting is working hard to enhance disaster response capabilities by increasing firefighting resources. Over the past three years from 2019 to this year, 2,112 firefighting personnel have been added, and efforts to replace and reinforce outdated and insufficient firefighting equipment have accelerated, with 245,155 items newly replaced as of the end of June this year, and 318 main and special firefighting vehicles introduced. Furthermore, through the fire station expansion project initiated in 2019, a total of 26 new 119 Safety Centers have been established or are planned by this year.

Training to respond to disasters caused by rapidly changing environments is also being diversified.

In particular, in 2019, the Gyeonggi Fire Academy established the On-site Command Capability Center in Gunpo City, Gyeonggi Province, conducting on-site command training tailored to various scenarios using advanced technology. To prepare for wind and flood disasters, tactical training using firefighting drones is conducted to strengthen capabilities for firefighting activities in areas unreachable by personnel.

Strengthening the reporting and dispatch system is also a priority. By linking CCTV from 7 cities and 8 related organizations, an integrated disaster video monitoring system has been established to facilitate rapid dispatch, enabling immediate response upon detection of emergency disasters or situations, with plans to gradually expand the linked areas.

Natural disasters caused by climate change will bring unprecedented large-scale damage beyond previous disasters. Fundamental solutions start with global awareness and action regarding the environment. Recently, various voices have united to emphasize the need for government-wide policies on greenhouse gas reduction and carbon neutrality.

Nevertheless, standing amid climate change, we urgently need proactive preparedness for potential disasters. This responsibility lies with firefighting. Gyeonggi Province Firefighting will continue efforts to develop various policies aimed at minimizing casualties during disasters by integrating information and experience gained from various field activities with Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies.

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