Yongin City Establishes Full Response System to Prevent Forest Fires in Autumn

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Yongin City announced on the 16th that it has established a full response system for the autumn season by designating October 18 to December 15 as the autumn forest fire prevention period, as the risk of forest fires increases due to dry autumn weather and an increase in hikers.

The city first installed forest fire prevention task forces at City Hall and each district office to establish an organic command system and selected 47 professional forest fire prevention and suppression personnel to concentrate deployment in 13 vulnerable forest areas.

At the Choin-gu Namdong Forest Fire Response Center, the city leased and positioned one forest fire suppression helicopter, enabling it to move rapidly and accurately across the city's extensive forests and respond immediately when large-scale forest fires occur.

Additionally, the city installed two forest fire extinguishing facilities at Yongin Natural Recreation Forest that can preemptively spray water in dry weather to prevent forest fires and directly extinguish them as well.

The city plans to encourage citizens to voluntarily participate in forest fire prevention and strengthen preventive activities such as pre-removing fallen leaves, branches, and garbage around forests.

Meanwhile, the city secured 100 million won in special government grants after Daedae 4-ri in Yangji-myeon was selected in February in a competition hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety titled "Building Villages Resilient to Forest Fires."

Through this initiative, the city distributed personal forest fire suppression equipment and forest fire disaster broadcasting equipment to Daedae 4-ri and installed forest fire risk index notification signs and forest fire caution standing signs. The city is also conducting forest fire prevention education for residents.