“A finger-shaped soot mark—does it look staged?” Female firefighter responds to ‘staged’ hate comments: “You’re criticizing without knowing anything” [What Do You Think?]

[Financial News] An online debate has erupted over a news photo of a female firefighter taken at the scene of a fire in Guryong Village, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, with some suspecting it was staged and others countering that the criticism comes from people who do not know the scene.

A press photo taken at the Guryong Village fire scene has recently been shared on major online communities and social networking services (SNS), where it is spreading rapidly. The photo shows firefighters inspecting the scene after putting out the fire on the 28th.
In the photo, a female firefighter stands in firefighting gear, her long hair tied back and no helmet on. A soot mark is visible on her right cheek.
 
Some netizens who saw the photo questioned whether it had been staged. One expressed skepticism, asking, “Why do photos like this always have soot smeared so neatly in the shape of a finger?” Another commented, “If it got there while she was actually working, sweat would have spread it all over her face,” adding, “If it were smeared like that, people around her would tell her, and she’d wipe it off.”

Others pushed back, saying the criticism was excessive and came from people unfamiliar with the circumstances at the scene. One netizen said, “Even if she didn’t go directly into the fire scene, she could have been operating a water tender supplying water to fire engines at the scene or handling fire-suppression duties. Don’t attack her when you know nothing,” adding, “No matter how much you criticize them as ‘cushy-job firefighters’ or ‘showboat firefighters,’ it’s firefighters who end up at fire, rescue and emergency medical scenes.”
Another netizen said, “You shouldn’t make snap judgments based on a single photo when you don’t even know what duties the firefighter in it was assigned or what the situation was.” They added, “What exactly gives you the right to judge her appearance and even attack her personally?” and asked, “Are firefighters not allowed to wear makeup? Do they have to go to the scene bare-faced?”

As the controversy over whether the photo was staged spread, particularly on social media, the National Fire Agency confirmed that the person in the photo was a member of Gangnam Fire Station.
A National Fire Agency official said, “The person in the photo is a female firefighter with Gangnam Fire Station,” and added, “It seems the controversy has hurt the person involved.”
A fire broke out in Guryong Village at around 3:50 p.m. on the 27th, prompting a Level 2 fire response. It was extinguished early on the 28th, 13 hours after it started. The fire left 127 residents displaced, and 91 households were reported to have suffered damage.

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