Firefighting Activity Obstruction Offenders Up 22% Year-on-Year... "Active Response with Zero Tolerance Policy"

2210 Cases Detected, 2359 People Referred to Prosecution

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The National Fire Agency announced on the 26th that last year, fire special judicial police officers nationwide detected 2,210 violations of fire-related laws and referred a total of 2,359 people (1,351 cases sent) to the prosecution.

By violation law, the cases were ▲ Hazardous Materials Safety Control Act 833 ▲ Fire Facilities Act 679 ▲ Fire Facilities Construction Business Act 455 ▲ Fire Basic Act 166 ▲ 119 Act 75 ▲ Fire Prevention Act 2, in that order.

In particular, the number of violations under the 119 Act increased significantly by about 56.3% (27 cases) compared to the previous year, which is analyzed as a result of the active response measures by the fire special judicial police against offenders obstructing fire activities, such as violence by paramedics.

Among the total 2,210 detected violations, there were 317 cases of obstruction of fire activities (▲ assault (injury) 288 cases ▲ property damage 9 cases ▲ sexual harassment (molestation) 3 cases ▲ obstruction of passage 3 cases, etc.), representing a 22% increase compared to 2021.

Meanwhile, among the 317 offenders obstructing fire activities, 283 (89%) were found to have obstructed fire activities while intoxicated. Going forward, a zero-tolerance policy will be applied to offenders obstructing fire activities due to alcohol, and strict punishment will be enforced.

Lee Il, Director of the 119 Response Bureau at the National Fire Agency, emphasized, “Acts that threaten the safety of personnel at fire activity sites must be eradicated,” and added, “We ask the public to comply with fire-related laws for the safety of citizens and personnel.”

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