200 Fire Engines Deployed to Drought-Hit Gyeongnam... Sprayed 2,545 Tons of Water in 7 Hours

As a severe drought continues in South Gyeongsang Province, 200 fire water tank trucks gathered from across the country began full-scale water supply support, providing more than 2,500 tons of water in just seven hours.

According to the Gyeongnam Fire Headquarters on the 12th, the fire water tank trucks deployed to the drought-hit areas in Gyeongnam, where a national firefighting mobilization order was issued, supplied a total of 2,545 tons (356 trips) of water from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Among them, agricultural water accounted for the vast majority with 2,503 tons (351 trips), while 42 tons (5 trips) were provided for livestock sheds and road sprinkling.

By region, Yangsan received the highest amount with 509 tons (96 trips).

This was followed by Namhae with 384 tons (40 trips), Gimhae Seobu with 354 tons (39 trips), Miryang with 304 tons (43 trips), Hadong 238 tons (29 trips), Geoje 158 tons (19 trips), Haman 156 tons (26 trips), Geochang 126 tons (15 trips), Sacheon 84 tons (10 trips), Changnyeong 81 tons (16 trips), Tongyeong 60 tons (4 trips), Jinju 54 tons (12 trips), and Uiryeong 37.5 tons (7 trips).

In Miryang, where the drought is particularly severe, a large-capacity drainage pump system introduced in 2024 was installed along the Miryang River to pump up river water and supply it to water tank trucks standing by at the site.

This equipment is firefighting gear capable of draining, discharging, or supplying large quantities of water, and can simultaneously supply up to 8,000 liters of water per minute to five water tank trucks.

The water-filled tank trucks traveled back and forth between drought-damaged rice paddies and fields to supply agricultural water.

With the issuance of a national firefighting mobilization order for the Gyeongnam region at 8 p.m. the previous day, 200 water tank trucks and 400 firefighting personnel from 16 regional fire headquarters nationwide gathered in Gyeongnam.

The largest number, 40 units, were deployed to Miryang, where the drought is severe, followed by 20 units each in Jinju, Sacheon, and Gimhae, 18 in Yangsan, 14 each in Namhae and Hadong, 10 each in Geoje, Uiryeong, Geochang, and Changwon, 6 in Changnyeong, and 4 each in Tongyeong and Haman.

The medium-sized water tank trucks deployed as the main force can carry 6,000 to 12,000 liters of water.

Water supply support is scheduled to continue until the afternoon of today (the 13th).

In Gyeongnam, the shortage of agricultural water and crop damage are growing increasingly severe due to the prolonged drought.

As of this day, the Gyeongnam provincial government estimated that drought damage has occurred across 2,121 hectares of farmland in the province, centered around rice, fruit trees such as sweet persimmons, pears, and apples, and field crops such as beans, sesame, and chili peppers.

According to the Agricultural Drought Management System, the average storage rate of agricultural reservoirs in the 18 cities and counties of the province stood at 33.3 percent on this day, remaining at a mere 46.9 percent of the normal year's level of 70.9 percent.

Miryang, Geoje, and Haman are under the "severe" stage, the highest among the agricultural water drought stages, and these three places are the only cities and counties nationwide where a severe stage has been issued.

Agricultural water drought stages are divided into four levels based on the reservoir storage rate compared to normal years: "Interest" (70 percent or below), "Caution" (60 percent or below), "Alert" (50 percent or below), and "Severe" (40 percent or below).

The number of areas under the "Alert" stage, which stood at nine the previous day, increased to ten with the addition of Tongyeong on this day.

Uiryeong has approached the severe stage as its reservoir storage rate compared to normal years dropped to 40 percent.

The reservoir storage rate in Miryang, which suffers from the worst drought, plummeted to 25.7 percent, which is 34.4 percent of the normal year's 74.5 percent.

This national firefighting mobilization order was implemented after the Gyeongnam Fire Headquarters requested mobilization from the National Fire Agency, judging that there were limits to providing water supply support with its own firefighting capacity alone due to the persistent drought.

A national firefighting mobilization order is a measure to deploy firefighting forces nationwide when there is a high risk of a disaster or when a disaster occurs and it is deemed difficult to respond with the firefighting capabilities of the relevant city or province alone.

This is the second time that a national firefighting mobilization order has been issued due to a drought, following Gangneung in August of last year.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.