Governor Kim Jintae Visits Forest Aviation Headquarters to Inspect Wildfire Preparedness Measures

Governor Kim Jintae Visits Forest Aviation Headquarters
"Rapid Response Needed to Increasingly Frequent and Large-Scale Wildfires"

Jintae Kim, Governor of Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, visited the Korea Forest Service's Forest Aviation Headquarters located in Wonju on the 5th to personally inspect the wildfire preparedness measures.

Kim Jintae, Governor of Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, visited the Korea Forest Service Aviation Headquarters located in Wonju on the 5th to personally inspect the wildfire preparedness measures. Provided by Gangwon Province

This visit was arranged to commend the staff of the Forest Aviation Headquarters for their proactive response to wildfires in Gangwon Province, to directly check the cooperation system with the provincial Wildfire Prevention Center and the disaster response system in the forest aviation sector, and to listen to feedback from the field.

The Forest Aviation Headquarters is a national specialized agency for forest disaster response that operates aircraft for wildfire prevention, monitoring, and suppression, as well as for responding to forest disasters, playing a key role in on-site wildfire response.

Governor Kim closely examined the operational status of forest aviation aircraft, maintenance systems, and key facilities such as hangars, thoroughly reviewing the response system, and was briefed on the wildfire response policies and plans for the coming year.

The Forest Aviation Headquarters announced that, for next year's wildfire response, it plans to significantly expand its firefighting role, including initial suppression, and to double the mobilized firefighting capacity at each stage compared to the current level.

Additionally, the wildfire response system, which has so far operated in four stages (initial, stage 1, stage 2, stage 3), will be simplified to three stages: initial response, stage 1, and stage 2, in order to speed up on-site response. In cases where there is concern about large-scale, disaster-level wildfires, the head of the Korea Forest Service will directly command the site, regardless of the stage.

Jintae Kim, Governor of Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, visited the Korea Forest Service Aviation Headquarters located in Wonju on the 5th to personally inspect the wildfire preparedness measures. Provided by Gangwon Province

Governor Kim stated, "Due to the climate crisis, wildfires are becoming more frequent and larger throughout the year," and urged, "Relevant agencies, including the Forest Aviation Headquarters and the provincial Wildfire Prevention Center, should work together more closely to maintain a proactive and swift response system."

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