The worst wildfire in South Korea’s history has killed 27 people and injured 32, with more than 37000 people evacuated and more than 36000 hectares burned. According to reports by KBS TV and Seoul News, the tragic disaster has exposed the structural flaws in South Korea’s grassroots emergency rescue system, in particular, the serious aging of forest fire prevention team caused strong repercussions in South Korea.
Reported that more than 9,000 South Korean forest fire around the team, the vast majority of which are temporary or non-fixed-term contract workers. Because of the bad pay and high risk, most young people are reluctant to take the job. Statistics show that the average age of the team has reached 61 years old, of which 65-year-old players reached 33.7% , the average age of fire fighters in some areas even break 68 years old. Although the nominal implementation of a five-day work week, but in the event of a fire, these senior members must be on call 24 hours a day.
According to South Korean media, the three fire fighters killed in the fire were all contract workers over the age of 60 belonging to the forest fire prevention team of Changnyeong County, the daily wage is 82,400 won, or about $60. Not only do these elderly firefighters lack professional firefighting gear, they are equipped with only a construction helmet, a pitchfork and a rudimentary fire pump. Reported that the vast majority of forest fire brigade use of fire equipment and vehicles in more than 10 years, there are many areas facing emergency equipment shortage. In addition, unlike professional firefighters, who undergo months of training, these firefighters usually have only a few hours to train before heading to a forest fire.
South Korean media also said that these members of the recruitment of forest fire prevention threshold is also very low. Although recruitment notices clearly require candidates to pass physical fitness tests, including sprinting with 15 kg of firefighting gear, the reality is worrying. Due to the high age of the candidates and the number of sudden deaths of elderly candidates during the test across the country between 2020 and 2023, the actual selection criteria have had to be significantly relaxed. An official in North Gyeongsang Province admitted that with only a handful of young people applying, the job had become a“Relief job” for low-income elderly people.
Lee Si-young, a disaster prevention expert at South Korea’s Kangwon University, said that without immediate institutional reforms, tragedies such as the bushfires were bound to recur. The head of South Korea’s Fire Service Workers Union has condemned the lack of a unified forest fire emergency system and dedicated financial support at the national level, forcing local governments to let elderly temporary workers take on professional rescue tasks, this institutional defect has become a major threat to national public security.