Image: City of Busan ()
The city of Busan will establish special measures to prevent forest fires on the 5th of the first full moon of the year and take all-out efforts to prevent forest fires.
This is because the ‘Jeongwol Daeboreum Event’ will be held again on a large scale with the lifting of social distancing, which will lead to prevalent shamanic activities in the forest, and is expected to increase the risk of forest fires due to the dry air conditions.
First, the city will strengthen the operation of the forest fire prevention headquarters. A forest fire prevention inspection team is organized with 20 organizations, including cities, autonomous districts, counties, and the Busan Facilities Corporation, to closely implement forest fire prevention measures.
In addition, forest fire monitors will be intensively placed in areas vulnerable to forest fires, and wildfire prevention activities will be concentrated, such as banning fires in areas adjacent to forests.
On February 5, the day of Jeongwol Daeboreum, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., about 600 people, including ward/county and facility corporation employees, were actively guided in shamanistic activities and burning houses in the forest, and rented helicopters and unmanned drones will be used as well as a broadcast system in remote areas.
The city plans to collect inflammable substances such as candles and incense from citizens entering areas where shamanic activity is expected, such as temples, hermitages, valleys, mineral springs, rock crevices, and crypts during the early hours of the morning.
An emergency contact system will be established with temples and hermitages in the forest, and firefighting personnel are maintained at all times so that they can be quickly mobilized in case of emergency, and forest fire preparedness and response posture are strengthened by inspecting rental helicopters, firefighting vehicles, and equipment in advance.
