Uiwang City Designates Forest Fire Prevention Period Through May 15

[Suwon Ilbo=Seo Dong-yeong Reporter] Uiwang City has designated through May 15 as the spring forest fire prevention period and will establish and operate a forest fire prevention task force headquarters.

During this period, the headquarters will organize and operate an emergency response team and recruit 30 professional forest fire prevention and extinguishing personnel to actively utilize the mechanized forest fire extinguishing system, which won the grand prize in the "National Forest Fire Prevention Idea Competition," at fire sites to strengthen early fire suppression and forest fire prevention and surveillance activities.

The city will also fully equip forest fire extinguishing equipment, including helicopters, to respond swiftly to forest fires when they occur, and will establish a coordination system with related agencies such as fire departments to make every effort in initial fire suppression and prevention of forest fire outbreaks in case of emergency.

Additionally, the city plans to heighten public awareness through various forest fire prevention publicity campaigns and strengthen forest fire reporting systems.

Hwang Eun-sang, director of the city's Parks and Greenery Division, said, "The city has a forest area of 3,400 hectares, accounting for approximately 63% of the city's total area. Since the dry winter weather continues, the risk of forest fires is extremely high, making thorough preparation necessary," and asked for "active interest and cooperation from citizens to prevent forest fires and minimize damage."