Yongin Western Fire Station Opens, Serving 830,000 Residents in Giheung-gu and Suji-gu

[Suwon Daily=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] The Yongin Western Fire Station, which will oversee 830,000 residents in Giheung-gu and Suji-gu, held its opening ceremony on the 19th at its office in Singal-dong, Giheung-gu, and began full-scale operations.

The opening ceremony was attended by approximately 300 people, including Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon, National Assembly members Lee Eon-joo, Bu Seung-chan, Son Myeong-soo, and Lee Sang-sik, city and provincial council members, and Cho Seon-ho, head of the Gyeonggi Province Fire and Disaster Management Headquarters, along with firefighting personnel.

At the opening ceremony, Governor Kim Dong-yeon stated, "Yongin, with a population approaching 1.1 million, ranks first nationwide in fire, rescue, and fire service demands, occurring approximately 220 cases daily. Today, we are solving a long-standing issue with the opening of Yongin Western Fire Station and the establishment of the Volunteer Fire Association." He added, "While we are opening temporarily here, we will make further efforts to establish a proper western fire station in the most appropriate location with a proper building and site in the near future."

The Yongin Western Fire Station, which opened its doors on this day, will be operated with an organization consisting of 3 divisions, 1 unit, 1 department head, 6 centers, and 1 rescue team. It will oversee Giheung-gu and Suji-gu (population approximately 830,000) and is expected to provide high-quality fire safety services.

Yongin Special City, with a population of 1.07 million, experienced explosive growth in fire and civil service demands due to rapid population increase and large-scale residential development projects, resulting in the highest fire service demand in the nation. However, the region had only one fire station, the Yongin Fire Station located in Cheoin-gu, creating difficulties in emergency response.

Consequently, Gyeonggi Province has been promoting the establishment of Yongin Western Fire Station since 2018. However, the initially planned office site became part of the "Platform City" urban development project, causing difficulties in establishment. As a result, from 2021, Yongin Fire Station temporarily responded by separately installing the Second Field Command Unit and Second Rescue and Emergency Medical Team to cover the western region at Suji 119 Safety Center.

The discussion on establishing Yongin Western Fire Station reached a turning point in August of last year during a "Gyeonggi Province Current Issues Review Meeting," where Governor Kim Dong-yeon issued special orders for the early opening of Yongin Western Fire Station.

Following the governor's directive, the province decided to implement the so-called "early opening, later construction" strategy, opening the fire station first using a rental office and pursuing office building construction later. Once the early opening and later construction plan was confirmed, the province budgeted 1.35 billion won for opening Yongin Western Fire Station at the end of last year. The Gyeonggi Province Fire and Disaster Management Headquarters leased an office building in Giheung-gu in February of this year, culminating in today's official opening ceremony.