Seoul City Operates Dedicated Ambulance Maintenance Center to "Enhance Safety Management"

Operation of the Nation's First Ambulance Dedicated Maintenance Center with Specialized Automotive Repair Personnel
Strengthening Safety-Related Inspections Such as Brakes through Quarterly Vehicle Check-Ins

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Fire and Disaster Headquarters announced on the 11th that it will operate an ambulance-dedicated maintenance center to strengthen ambulance safety management in response to the increasing demand for ambulance dispatches.

The ambulance-dedicated maintenance center is a facility converted from the existing fire vehicle maintenance center located in Dobong-gu, equipped with the necessary equipment for ambulance-exclusive maintenance, and staffed with professionals holding automobile maintenance qualifications. Until now, ambulances operated by Seoul Fire have been managed through statutory inspections and repairs/checks based on each fire station's judgment, but from now on, they will undergo proactive preventive maintenance and inspections by being brought into the maintenance center once every quarter.

In particular, the Fire and Disaster Headquarters plans to focus on inspecting and maintaining parts directly related to safety, such as the brake system. In addition, regular tire inspections, replacement of vehicle consumables, and overall preventive inspections and maintenance of ambulances will be included to support the safe operation of ambulances.

Last year, the total number of ambulance dispatches was about 551,600, an increase of approximately 15% compared to about 478,000 in 2020 when COVID-19 began. In response to this increase in ambulance dispatch demand, the city’s Fire and Disaster Headquarters has been adding ambulances and replacing old vehicles, currently operating 171 ambulances.

Last year, the average annual number of dispatches per ambulance was about 3,226, an increase of 201 from 3,025 in 2020. Accordingly, the Fire and Disaster Headquarters has been preparing to operate a dedicated maintenance center since the end of last year to further strengthen the safety management of ambulances, which operate year-round with increasing dispatch numbers.

Choi Tae-young, head of the Seoul Fire and Disaster Headquarters, said, “Through the ambulance-dedicated maintenance center, we will further enhance the safety of ambulances, which can be called emergency rooms on wheels,” and added, “We will also proactively prevent dispatch gaps caused by vehicles amid the increasing demand for ambulance dispatches.”

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