Gangneung City Deploys Thermal Imaging Drones and Surveillance Cameras to Secure Nighttime Wildfire Golden Hour

Gangneung City Steps Up Nighttime Wildfire Response

Gangneung City in Gangwon Province (Mayor Kim Hongkyu) has announced that, due to the recent continuation of dry weather and a resulting increase in nighttime wildfires within the province, it will strengthen its nighttime wildfire monitoring system. The city plans to utilize thermal imaging drones and thermal surveillance cameras to ensure a more efficient and rapid wildfire response.

Gangneung City, Nighttime Wildfire Prevention Measures Implemented (Thermal Imaging Drone). Provided by Gangneung City

Over the past week, there has been a significant increase in wildfires occurring during the nighttime hours (between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.). In particular, it is often difficult to secure visibility at night, which leads to delays in initial response, and firefighting helicopters cannot be deployed, resulting in repeated cases where the scale of wildfire damage increases.

To address these challenges, the city plans to operate a wildfire drone monitoring team using thermal imaging drones capable of quickly and accurately capturing and monitoring forest areas at high resolution even at night. The system will automatically detect heat sources above a certain temperature and immediately alert the specialized wildfire prevention and suppression team, thereby reducing the time required for initial response. Through this approach, the city expects detection speed to be three to five times faster and accuracy to be more than twice as high compared to traditional patrols by personnel.

In addition, eight more thermal surveillance cameras have been installed in major forest areas, creating a denser nighttime wildfire monitoring network with a total of 52 cameras. These 360-degree rotating thermal cameras secure nighttime visibility, and by linking them with the existing integrated CCTV control center, integrated monitoring has been enhanced. This improvement eliminates unmanned monitoring blind spots during nighttime and early morning hours and enables rapid detection of initial smoke and heat patterns.

Furthermore, the city will reinforce its personnel-based monitoring system by strengthening nighttime patrols and crackdowns on illegal burning activities through 18 towns, townships, and neighborhoods, as well as local wildfire monitors, volunteer fire brigades, and autonomous disaster prevention teams.

Kim Hongkyu, Mayor of Gangneung, stated, "We expect these enhanced nighttime monitoring measures to play a major role in securing the golden time for initial wildfire response and minimizing damage." He added, "At night, even a small spark can quickly grow into a large wildfire. We urge citizens to strictly refrain from using fire, such as cooking or smoking, near forested areas, and to immediately report any suspected wildfire situations they observe."

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