"4,700 Tons a Day"... 200 Fire Engines and 400 Personnel Mobilized

[Anchor]

A national firefighting mobilization order has been issued in South Gyeongsang Province, which has been hit by the worst drought. With reservoirs and rivers drying up, agricultural water is already critically scarce, and household water supplies are also facing a dangerous situation. 200 fire engines gathered from across the country have gone all out to provide emergency water supply support.

Our first report comes from reporter Kim Su-yun.

[Reporter]

Forty fire engines are packed tightly into a parking lot in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province.

Following the government's issuance of a national firefighting mobilization order yesterday evening (August 11), 200 fire engines and 400 personnel from fire headquarters across 16 cities and provinces nationwide have assembled in South Gyeongsang Province.

[Kim Young-gwan / Senior Inspector, Prevention Division, South Gyeongsang Fire Headquarters: The purpose of the national firefighting mobilization order is to overcome the limitations of regional firefighting capabilities and provide support at the national level.]

Visible behind me are fire engines with the word 'Hoengseong' written on them.

Fire engines gathered from all over the country, including Hoengseong in Gangwon Province and Seoul, are supplying water to these drought-hit areas in South Gyeongsang Province.

The mobilized firefighting forces have been distributed across 14 jurisdiction fire stations in South Gyeongsang Province, with the largest number—40 fire engines—deployed to Miryang, where the reservoir water storage rate has plummeted to 25%, the lowest level in the country.

Firefighters are repeatedly pumping water from urban streams and other sources, moving to nearby farmland or reservoirs, and supplying the water.

[Kim Wan-gyeom / Firefighter, Icheon Fire Station, Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters: Each vehicle is assigned a water source, after which we receive water, go to the supply destination, and spray it. I think we just kept repeating that process.]

This marks only the second time a national firefighting mobilization order has been issued due to a drought, following Gangneung last August when the reservoir storage rate dropped to 13%. As a result, the Gangneung firefighters deployed to this operation felt a special sense of sentiment.

[Cho Seok-du / Fire Inspector, Gangneung Fire Station, Gangwon Fire Headquarters: We departed at 3 a.m. (3 a.m.?) We received a lot of help last year, so being able to repay it this way is rewarding and feels good. My mind feels a bit more at ease.]

While agricultural damage has been provisionally estimated at 2,121 hectares of farmland in South Gyeongsang Province due to the impact of the drought and heatwave, approximately 4,700 tons of water were supplied as agricultural water today alone.

[Park Seon-i & Yoon Hye-ok / Miryang City, South Gyeongsang Province: My heart aches. In this heat. (The firefighters) keep going up and down several times a day to supply water.]

The firefighting forces mobilized from across the country will carry out emergency water supply support operations in various parts of South Gyeongsang Province through tomorrow.

(Photo: Yonhap News / Video coverage: Kyungmun / Design: Lee Ga-jin / Footage provided by: Miryang City, Gimhae City)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.