2,310 Jeju Volunteer Firefighters to Deploy a ‘Three-Stage Search Network’ for Missing Persons; Night Patrols Expanded

【Financial News Jeju=Reporter Jung Yong-bok】 A total of 2,310 Jeju volunteer firefighters are expanding their role beyond supporting fire and disaster response operations to include missing-person searches and nighttime safety patrols. The province’s 28 119 centers will also serve as safety hubs where tourists can receive directions and emergency services.
According to the Jeju Fire and Safety Headquarters on July 5, the community-based safety guardians program, centered on volunteer fire brigades, will be expanded starting July 7.
Jeju currently has 2,310 members serving in 78 volunteer fire brigades. From January through July this year, they carried out 6,032 activities involving fire response, rescue, patrols and waterfront safety, with 30,367 cumulative participants. Of these, patrols accounted for 1,345 operations involving 6,189 participants.
The key aim of the expansion is to connect the brigades’ existing fire and disaster support role with everyday safety efforts and the initial response to missing-person cases.
First, each local volunteer fire brigade will determine its own patrol areas. Safety risks vary across Jeju. Some areas have the Jeju Olle Trail and coastlines crowded with tourists, while others have dark alleyways or face risks of wildfires and missing-person incidents. Rather than patrolling administrative districts uniformly, volunteer firefighters who know local conditions well will select and closely monitor locations where actual risks are high.
Patrols will focus on nighttime hours, with two members working together on foot. If they find residents or tourists who are lost or need help, they will take safety measures at the scene and, if necessary, coordinate with a 119 emergency call.
Safety measures will be strengthened particularly for tourists traveling alone in Jeju or unfamiliar with the island’s geography.
The Jeju Fire and Safety Headquarters will operate the province’s 28 119 centers, including local stations, as “Safe 119” facilities that are always open. Tourists who become lost or need urgent assistance will be able to receive directions, emergency medical services and other support at a nearby 119 center.

The plan is to use 119 centers not merely as bases for fire and ambulance dispatches, but also as community safety hubs that people needing assistance during their travels can visit in person.
When a person goes missing, the search will be expanded in stages. If the police or another relevant agency requests a joint response, the jurisdictional volunteer fire brigade will conduct an initial search of vulnerable areas in its territory as the first stage.
If the person is not found during the initial search, the second stage will increase personnel by mobilizing volunteer firefighters affiliated with the jurisdictional fire station to conduct intensive searches in neighboring areas and coastal and mountainous regions.
The third stage will shift to a province-wide search by deploying available personnel from volunteer fire brigades across Jeju. Depending on the circumstances and search area, personnel will be rapidly expanded from the local level to the province-wide level.
The use of specialized equipment, including drones, will also be incorporated. The Jeju Fire and Safety Headquarters plans to identify in advance specialists who possess or can operate drones and search equipment, and establish a standing contact network.
As time passes after a person goes missing, the search area expands rapidly. In Jeju, where the terrain includes the Jeju Olle Trail, oreums, Gotjawal and coastlines, early location information and knowledge of the local geography can determine the speed of the search.
The Jeju government also views local knowledge as the volunteer fire brigades’ key strength. Because members know the side roads, coastal access routes, farm roads and Jeju Olle Trail paths in the villages where they live, they can supplement regular police and fire personnel during the initial search. Volunteer fire brigades will support searches at the request of the police and other relevant agencies for a joint response, and, if the situation expands, increase the number of personnel deployed in coordination with the fire service.
Park Jin-su, head of the Jeju Fire and Safety Headquarters, said, “Volunteer fire brigades are guardians of local safety who know the area’s roads and terrain, as well as residents’ daily lives, better than anyone. We will strengthen field operations so that they serve as an everyday safety net for residents and as the closest safety guardians tourists can turn to in an unfamiliar Jeju.”


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