‘Be Careful of Forest Fires’ Period until December 15… Distribution of Wearable Robots with GPS and Deployment of 196 Helicopters
Announcing Autumn Forest Fire Prevention Measures, Lim Sang-seop, Chief of the Korea Forest Service
(Daejeon=Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Eun-pa = The Korea Forest Service has designated the period from November 1 to December 15 as the ‘Autumn Forest Fire Prevention Period’ and will embark on full-scale activities.
Chief Lim Sang-seop held a press conference at the Government Complex in Daejeon on the 31st and announced ‘2024 Autumn Forest Fire Prevention Measures.’
Autumn is a time when forests dry out due to low rainfall, and increased hikers elevate the risk of forest fires. Over the past decade, an annual average of 38 forest fires have occurred during this period.
The prevention measures are divided into four tasks: implementation of customized prevention measures by cause, establishment of a forest fire response system based on advanced scientific technology, systematic and rapid fire suppression, and efficient operation and capacity enhancement of forest fire prevention personnel. Measures to respond to fires caused by North Korean balloon debris have also been prepared.
To prevent ‘visitor-related fires’ and ‘burning fires,’ which are major causes of forest fires, the Forest Service will restrict entry and close trails in high-risk areas and will collaborate with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Rural Development Administration to expand the ‘Visiting Farm Waste Crushing Project’ to prevent illegal burning, implementing customized prevention measures based on specific causes.
During the spring ‘Be Careful of Forest Fires’ period (February 1–May 15), the project revealed that 37 forest fires were caused by illegal burning.
This figure is approximately one-third of the average of 106.4 fires over the recent 10 years.
An advanced information and communication technology (ICT) platform will be established for 24-hour monitoring and detection of forest fires by artificial intelligence (AI), which will detect smoke and flames in real time through cameras connected to AI and determine the occurrence of fires, alleviating workload and enhancing surveillance efficiency through multi-level monitoring systems in local and regional governments.
Up to last year, 10 ICT-based forest fire control platforms have been set up, with plans to increase this number to 30 by the end of this year.
Wearable robots equipped with GPS will be distributed to enhance the capabilities of firefighting personnel, and strategic deployment of firefighting resources will be undertaken for nighttime forest fires as part of a technologically advanced fire response system.
A total of 196 firefighting helicopters will be mobilized for an exhaustive response to forest fires. Additionally, 89 mobile water reservoirs and 75 anti-freezing devices will be installed to quickly resupply water to helicopters.
Two domestic Surion helicopters (2,000 liters each) will be added, and 18 to 29 high-performance fire trucks with water capacity and discharge rates enhanced by 3.5 and 4 times, respectively, will be prepared for large forest fires.
During the autumn fire prevention period, over 22,000 forest fire prevention and firefighting personnel will be engaged, with flexible manpower deployment based on the fire expansion stage.
Particularly, in preparation for forest fires caused by North Korean balloon provocations, tracking of balloon movement routes and landing sites will be conducted, and additional firefighting resources will be allocated to anticipated landing areas.
Two helicopters will be forward-deployed at the Forest Aviation Office in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and the number of specialized forest fire prevention personnel in the Northern and Eastern Regional Forest Services will be increased from 630 to 680.
2024 Autumn Forest Fire Prevention Measures Infographic
Chief Lim emphasized, “Protecting forests from fires is crucial to creating valuable and healthy forests that everyone can enjoy,” urging the public to avoid entering restricted areas and join in preventing forest fires by not causing them through activities like smoking or illegal burning.