The Sancheong County Volunteer Fire Association is a volunteer group that assists in firefighting operations by going to the scene when a fire, rescue, or emergency situation occurs. It is located near Jirisan Mountain, so it operates an additional mountaineering team. Duksoon Kang, the president of the association, was born in Jungsan-ri. He enjoyed climbing the mountain since young and joined the Jirisan Civilian Mountain Rescue Team during his college years. “I’ve climbed mountains for 45 years. I know very well about emergency situations that might occur in the mountains and I learned dealing them promptly and effectively. Jirisan in particular has three most frequented roots and Jungsanri root is one of them. Because climbers climb the top and walk back down within a day, it is most popular but 90% of accidents occur. This is due to when climbers going off the trail so it is very important to keep following the trail” says Kang.

Protecting citizens’ lives and property

Taking the steering wheel of the association in 2023, Kang is leading administration, supply, response, rescue and emergency, prevention and public relations, field management teams. A total of 407 members in 13 areas are active at the moment. “We dispatch teams to the scene of accidents and provide help and support and organize drills every now and then so that we can respond promptly, efficiently and effectively and make sure we are always ready to be dispatched. We also hold meetings on a regular basis to bring up better systems and performances” says Kang. Apart from help and support on site, the members of the association install fire alarms and fire extinguishers on the houses where elderly and underprivileged neighbors reside. “In addition, we engage donation campaigns for girls and boys without parents and elderlies living alone” emphasizes Kang. Meanwhile, Kang is also serving as President of Gyeongsangnam-do Volunteer Fire Association since March 2023. “Around 9,400 members of the Gyeongsangnam-do association are active in 453 sub-groups region by region. It is my job to strengthen the bond of the groups and build trust and working together. Everybody is welcome to the associations under the age of 65 but we are thinking to increase the age to 68 at the discretion of each region” says Kang.