Seoul Proposes 1.1 Trillion Won Firefighting Budget for Next Year, Up 25.8 Billion Won

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it has proposed a special firefighting account budget of 1.1022 trillion won for next year, an increase of 25.8 billion won (2.4%) compared to this year.

The city explained that the budget reflects necessary funds to expand personal protective equipment for firefighters, ease the workload of heavily burdened emergency medical response teams, and improve aging working environments.

In addition, the city will promote health and welfare support together, including expanding meal support for emergency standby personnel, special health checkups for retirees, and specialized psychological counseling and healing programs.

"National government support decreased by 17.1 billion won compared to this year," the Seoul Metropolitan Government explained, adding, "Seoul increased local financial resources, such as general account transfers and regional resource facility taxes, by 42.9 billion won to increase the overall firefighting budget proposal."

"Among this, policy project expenses increased by 8.3 billion won (4.1%) from the previous year to 210.1 billion won," it added. "We prioritized budget allocations for essential firefighting projects such as expanding fire vehicles and equipment, professionalizing emergency response team operations, and supporting employee welfare."

This budget proposal was submitted to the Seoul Metropolitan Council on October 30 and is scheduled to be finalized after deliberation and resolution by the council.

Looking at next year's firefighting budget proposal, the city will first strengthen support to promote the health and welfare of firefighting officials.

The budget for meal support for firefighting officials on emergency standby duty has been set at 5.6 billion won, an increase of about 14% from the previous year.

The city plans to support special health checkups for retired firefighters to help them continue health management even after retirement.

Support to alleviate the psychological burdens experienced at disaster sites will also continue.

A budget of 370 million won has been allocated for the operation of the 119 Mind Recovery Center to provide specialized psychological counseling and healing programs, systematically supporting the mental health management and psychological recovery of firefighters.

To alleviate the workload of emergency response personnel and enhance the professionalism of emergency medical services, 3.55 billion won—an increase of about 43% from the previous year—has been allocated to the "Enhancing Emergency Response Professionalism" project.

Accordingly, the city plans to reinforce support personnel for heavily burdened emergency teams that handle more than 4,000 dispatches per year to ease workloads, and increase dispatch capacity by operating additional ambulances through workforce reallocation.

The city also plans to strengthen the 3-person dispatch system to enhance specialized emergency treatment capabilities for severe patients.


The Seoul Metropolitan Government also focused on replacing and reinforcing aging fire trucks and expanding safety equipment for firefighters.

For replacing and reinforcing aging fire trucks, 16.5 billion won—an approximately 90% increase from the previous year—has been allocated to replace and reinforce major fire trucks such as fire pump trucks and water tank trucks.

The city plans to invest 6.3 billion won to expand special ambulances and negative pressure ambulances, strengthening on-site response capabilities for fires, rescues, and emergencies.

The reinforcement of personal protective equipment and rescue and emergency equipment directly tied to the safety of on-site firefighters will also be continuously pursued.

Along with the special firefighting account budget, available financial resources such as the city's disaster management fund will be utilized to timely expand equipment needed in the field.

Investments for fire prevention and initial response will also be expanded.

The city has allocated 1.62 billion won—an increase of about 20% from the previous year—to the "Fire Reduction Fire Safety Measures Promotion" project, which includes the installation of automatic diffusing fire extinguishers effective for initial fire suppression, to suppress fire spread and minimize damage.

Along with this, the city has allocated 8.3 billion won for the construction of a joint firefighting government complex, which is being promoted to enhance the efficiency of disaster situation management and on-site response.

This project aims to place major firefighting agencies in one location to strengthen situational information sharing and cooperation among agencies, with the goal of starting construction in May next year.

The actual response capabilities of firefighters prepared for real fire situations will also be strengthened.

A new budget of 980 million won has been allocated for the operation of a live-fire training facility scheduled for completion in May next year, with plans to conduct fire suppression training in environments similar to actual fires to enhance firefighters' field adaptability and response capabilities.

Investments to improve aging fire stations will also be expanded.

The city has allocated 6 billion won—an increase of about 2.5 billion won from the previous year—for the relocation and reconstruction of the Geoyeo 119 Safety Center to improve the working environment for firefighters and establish a stable foundation for on-site dispatches.
 
(Photo provided by By4M Studio, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.