Seoul City to Fully Activate Autumn Wildfire Prevention System Starting November

In Autumn, Increased Risk of Wildfires Due to Dry Weather... Designation and Operation of Wildfire Prevention Period
Activation of Wildfire Prevention Headquarters, Deployment of Surveillance Personnel, Inspection of Firefighting Equipment, Establishing Initial Firefighting Readiness

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City has designated the period until the 15th of next month as the autumn wildfire caution period due to the continued dry weather in autumn and the increased risk of wildfires, and has decided to make every effort to prevent wildfires.

According to Seoul City on the 3rd, during this period, Seoul City, 24 autonomous districts, park leisure centers, and 30 other organizations will establish and operate a wildfire prevention task force, focusing on wildfire prevention by building a wildfire prevention system and initial firefighting system together with related organizations.

Accordingly, more than 130 specialized wildfire prevention and firefighting personnel patrol major mountains such as Bukhansan, Suraksan, and Gwanaksan regularly, and wildfire firefighting vehicles and wildfire extinguishing facilities are pre-inspected and maintained to prepare for initial firefighting readiness. Wildfire monitoring personnel receive professional training in advance from the Korea Wildfire Prevention Technology Association and are deployed to wildfire-prone areas to monitor and extinguish wildfires.

In addition, to prevent arson by visitors, unmanned wildfire surveillance cameras installed at 14 major urban mountains including Bukhansan and Gwanaksan are inspected and maintained to establish a constant monitoring system, and black boxes are installed at 110 wildfire-prone sites to ensure there are no blind spots in wildfire monitoring. In case of a wildfire, rapid dispatch to the scene will be made to connect high-pressure hoses to fire trucks and deploy fire hoses like a net to quickly extinguish the wildfire.

If the wildfire continues to spread or breaks out simultaneously in multiple locations, wildfire firefighting helicopters will be immediately deployed, Seoul will be divided into five zones, and equipment and personnel from the corresponding autonomous districts in each zone will mutually support each other, mobilizing related organizations such as the Korea Forest Service, military, and police. A joint training exercise with related organizations will be held at Dobongsan at 3 p.m. on the 24th to check the wildfire response system and improve firefighting capabilities.

Additionally, by utilizing public transportation monitors, the internet, and mobile platforms to promote wildfire caution videos, the city plans to raise citizens' awareness of wildfires. The wildfire caution videos include wildfire prevention rules that citizens should know, such as ▲ prohibition of carrying fire sources like lighters while hiking ▲ prohibition of burning or trash incineration near forests ▲ prohibition of illegal cigarette butt disposal.

Furthermore, a ‘Wildfire Expert Investigation Team’ composed of specialists will be deployed to wildfire-damaged areas to investigate and analyze the cause of wildfires on-site, and will cooperate with the police and use surveillance cameras and black boxes to apprehend wildfire perpetrators.

Yu Young-bong, Director of the Seoul City Green City Leisure Bureau, said, “As dry weather is expected to continue this autumn, thorough preparation in advance is most important to safely protect Seoul’s forests from wildfires, and if a wildfire occurs, we will quickly extinguish it to minimize damage.”

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