Title: Reexamining fire emergency management in Korea

Authors: Kyoo-Man Ha

Addresses: Korea Environmental and Safety Institute, Inje University, 197 Inje-ro, Gimhae, Gyeongnam, 50834, South Korea

Abstract: Deadly fires have recently smashed Korea. The article has aimed to see how Korean firefighters have managed various fires for the paramount goal of emergency management. Qualitative content analysis has been used as a key method. Two patterns on fire emergency management have been analysed, such as firefighter-oriented pattern and people-oriented pattern. The former includes excessive political interests, obsessing about their own welfare, late decision on complicated issues, and the lack of flexible training and exercise, whereas the latter includes excessive risk interests, obsessing about people's welfare, appropriate decision on complicated issues, and the reliance on flexible training and exercise. The biggest finding is that Korea needs to transform the firefighter-oriented pattern into a people-oriented pattern soon. Similarly, other nations may use the transition as a criterion for reviewing their own systems. This article has approached the Korean topic more comprehensively than previous studies.

Keywords: firefighters; fire safety; comprehensive emergency management; political interests; training and exercise.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBCRM.2020.105616

International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management, 2020 Vol.10 No.1, pp.67 - 79

Received: 15 Jan 2019
Accepted: 01 Apr 2019
Published online: 06 Mar 2020 *

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