[2023 National Audit] Only 4 Forced Actions Despite 'Fire Truck Blocking' Incidents

Although 'compulsory measures' such as towing and destruction of vehicles obstructing fire truck operations have become possible, it has been pointed out that only four cases of such measures have actually occurred due to complaints from vehicle owners and concerns about lawsuits.

According to data submitted by the Fire Department to Jeong Woo-taek, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and member of the People Power Party, only four cases of compulsory measures have been carried out nationwide so far.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Although city and provincial fire headquarters nationwide have conducted over 6,000 compulsory measure drills in the past five years, the actual results are minimal.

The compulsory measure drills started with one case in 2018, followed by 10 cases in 2019, 10 cases in 2020, 79 cases in 2021, 4,095 cases last year, and 2,199 cases up to the end of September this year, totaling 6,394 cases.

The drills are conducted to secure the golden time at disaster sites and to raise awareness about illegal parking and stopping, but according to Representative Jeong, they seem not to be properly carried out due to the complicated compulsory measure procedure manual and the burden of complaints and lawsuits from vehicle owners.

According to the Fire Department's 'Compulsory Measures On-site Manual,' when traffic obstruction occurs due to parked or stopped vehicles, a complex procedure must be followed, including requesting vehicle removal → (if removal is impossible) explaining compulsory measures → and orders from the command chief.

Representative Jeong said, "If there is a fire in your house and the fire truck arrives late because they had to call the illegally parked vehicle owner to move their car, who would understand that?" He added, "The on-site manual should be simplified so that fire brigade members on site do not hesitate to take compulsory measures, and tailored measures such as assigning dedicated personnel for complaints should be prepared."

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