Firefighters Can Punish Illegal Parking

Firefighters will now be able to report parking violations on streets in order to secure routes for fire engines in case of emergencies, the National Emergency Management Agency said Sunday.

Currently, staff members of local administrations and police have the exclusive rights to impose fines or other punitive measures against illegally parked vehicles.

The administration explained in a press release that “Illegal parking in narrow alleys has often blocked fire trucks’ access, impeding firefighters’ ability to protect lives. The later you arrive, the less you can save.”

The administration will also hold a campaign to advise drivers to “make way for fire engines under any circumstance” and not to park within five meters from fire hydrants.

The moves came as cars parked on both sides of narrow roads made it difficult for a fire engine to get to the scene of a fire that broke out at a shooting range inside a marketplace in Busan, which killed 16 people last year. It took 20 minutes for the fire truck to move 50 meters within the market and experts assumed that swifter measures could have saved more lives.

The agency plans to dispatch fire crews within five minutes from the initial report being made.