Yongin City Launches Full-Scale Spring Forest Fire Prevention Measures

[Suwon Ilbo=Choi Ki-ho] Yongin Special City announced on the 2nd that it is mobilizing full-scale response measures, including establishing a forest fire prevention headquarters, to prevent and suppress forest fires from February 1st through May 15th, the forest fire alert period.

The city will establish forest fire prevention headquarters at City Hall and the three district offices and conduct continuous emergency standby operations during the forest fire alert period to build a forest fire prevention system.

The city has also selected 50 forest fire prevention and firefighting personnel and concentrated their deployment in forest fire vulnerable areas. The personnel will conduct patrols for forest fire prevention, provide guidance on illegal burning practices, and remove potential hazards in advance. When forest fires occur, they will be immediately deployed for firefighting operations.

In particular, starting this year, the city will operate a forest fire prevention and firefighting rapid standby team until 10 p.m. daily to enable rapid initial response when nighttime forest fires occur.

Additionally, to enable swift initial firefighting in case of large-scale forest fires, the city has leased one forest fire suppression helicopter and deployed it at the Nameast Forest Fire Response Center in Choin-gu, and has established an organic coordination system with nearby military units for personnel support.

To eliminate illegal burning in forest-adjacent areas, which is a major cause of forest fires, the city will deploy forest fire prevention and firefighting personnel to support the collection of agricultural byproducts in farmland adjacent to forests and will intensively crack down on illegal burning activities.

The city plans to post advertisements on regular buses in areas with potential burning risks and densely populated areas to raise public awareness about the dangers of forest fires.

A city official stated, "As the risk of forest fires increases due to dry spring weather, we are mobilizing full-scale response measures for forest fire prevention and response," and requested, "We ask citizens to actively participate in forest fire prevention activities to protect our precious forests."