[Anchor]

Following the factory fire in Bucheon, the poor working conditions of firefighters are back in the spotlight. Firefighters risk their lives at disaster sites, but due to a lack of proper budget support, they are forced to use essential safety gear—such as protective fire suits and air respirators—well past their expiration dates. Critics point out that although firefighters became national public servants six years ago, the majority of the budget is still funded by local governments.

Reporter Kim Minjun has the details.

[Reporter]

Including the late Fire Inspector Kim Jin-seok, four firefighters have lost their lives to "hazardous duty-related deaths in the line of duty" this year alone.

They include the late Fire Senior Inspector Sung Chi-in, who passed away last March after sustaining injuries at a fire scene in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, last November, as well as the late Fire Senior Inspector Park Seung-won and the late Fire Officer Noh Tae-young, who died in an April factory fire in Wando.

Since 2018, a total of 32 firefighters have died in the line of duty during hazardous operations, while 78 firefighters have died from official duties through last year, though not classified as hazardous duty.

Whenever such tragic sacrifices of frontline firefighters become known, calls for improving their treatment emerge, but reality rarely improves.

The government allocates about half of the individual consumption tax levied on cigarettes as state funds called the "Fire Safety Grant" and distributes it to 16 metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide.

Local governments use these funds to cover part of the labor costs for the country's 67,000 firefighters or to purchase safety equipment such as protective suits and air respirators.

In 2020, under the Moon Jae-in administration, most local firefighters were converted into national public servants, but the central government did not take over the entire budget management.

Last year, out of the total firefighting budget, state funding accounted for only about 10%, while local governments still bore 90%.

Compared to six years ago, the proportion of state financial support has actually decreased.

For locally elected heads of local governments, they would naturally prefer to prioritize budgets for projects with visible outcomes rather than firefighting budgets.

As a result, more than half of essential equipment worn by firefighters, such as protective suits and air respirators, has exceeded its expiration date, with 38.9% of six major types of protective gear found to be past their usable lifespan.

[Interview / Choi Young-jae / Chairman, National Fire Integrated Government Workers' Union: Firefighters should not face discrimination in firefighting services based on the financial conditions of the region where they work, regardless of where in the country they serve.]

The discrepancy in treatment depending on which city or province one works in is also a major problem.

Experts point out that to reduce the sacrifice of frontline firefighters, what is needed is not temporary attention, but fundamental investment and principles backed by responsibility.

(Video Editing: Kim Ho-jin, Design: Park Tae-young, Kim Ye-ji)