By Yi Whan-woo
The average number of firefighters who died while on duty between 2007 and 2011 in Korea was 1.85 out of every 10,000, data showed Thursday.
The National Emergency Management Agency said in its latest research that the rate was higher than Japan’s 0.7 and the United States’ 1.01.
The number of deaths in the line of duty is higher among local fire officers because of a lack of systematic command while fighting fires, an official said.
“They take out their hoses and immediately run into houses and buildings that are on fire without detailed instructions given by a commanding officer, and that’s really problematic,” said Kwon Sun-kyung, director general of the fire administration department at the agency.
He added the fewer number of firefighters here compared to Japan and the U.S. is another reason for such a high figure.
Korea had a total of 37,826 firefighters as of 2011, while Japan had 159,354 and the U.S. 344,050.
In Korea, the number of firefighters killed on duty or who died after fatal injuries was seven in 2007, nine in 2008, three in 2009, and eight each in 2010 and 2011.
In Japan, seven fire rescue officials died in 2007 while on duty, followed by five in 2008, seven in 2009, eight in 2010, and 29 in 2011 when the country was hit by an earthquake and tsunami that killed over 14,000 people.
The number of deaths among U.S. firefighters was 50 in 2007, 34 in 2008, 36 in 2009, 28 in 2010, and 35 in 2011.
“It seems more firefighters in Japan and U.S. were killed compared to Korea. But if you look at the total numbers in each country, you can notice that the situation is the worst here,” said Kwon. “Also Japan would have a lower rate if its officers were not killed in the disaster that hit the nation in 2011,” he said.
Kwon said his agency held a meeting on Monday and Tuesday to discuss and find ways to prevent firefighter deaths and injuries.
He said the organization will train the head of each fire station across the country to give systematic commands to firefighters at fire scenes.
Kwon added a tracking system is under development to trace a firefighter on the fire scene. “We will run the system on a trial basis from the second half of this year,” he said.
The most recent death of a local firefighter occurred on New Year’s Eve. A 43-year-old veteran officer, surnamed Kim, was found dead hours after he was buried under the debris of a burning stationary manufacturer that collapsed in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.