One out of four fire departments across the country is an old building built more than 30 years ago.

It was found that one out of four fire departments across the country is an old building that was built more than 30 years ago.

According to data submitted by the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee member Lim Ho-seon of the Democratic Party of Korea on the 28th from the National Fire Agency, among 299 fire headquarters and fire station buildings nationwide as of the end of June this year, 147 were built more than 20 years ago, accounting for 49.2% of the total.

Among these, 73 buildings were more than 20 years old but less than 30 years old, and 74 buildings were older than 30 years old, accounting for 24.7% of the total.

By region, Seoul and Gyeonggi had the largest number of fire departments that were over 30 years old, with 14 each. There were 5 in Gyeongnam, and 4 each in Daegu, Incheon, South Chungcheong, North Gyeongsang, and Gwangju.

There were 10 fire department buildings that were built more than 45 years ago.

The oldest fire building was the Gwangju Dongbu Fire Station. It was completed in July 1971 and has been in use for 55 years. It has been over 50 years since the Seoul General Disaster Prevention Center (1972), Chungbuk 119 Special Response Team (1974), and Daegu Central Fire Station (1975) were completed.

Among these 10, no specific plans for reconstruction have been confirmed for four fire stations: Gwangju Eastern, Yesan, Seocho, and Seongsan. Daejeon Dunsan Fire Department is also in the review stage.

Most of these buildings were classified as Class B or C, requiring some repairs or reinforcement of auxiliary members in terms of safety level.

Rep. Lim Ho-seon said, "There is a need to check whether it is appropriate to simply repair and reinforce individual facilities in a situation where the fire department building, which protects the lives and safety of local residents, has been in use for over 50 years," and emphasized, "We need to comprehensively look at the actual conditions for dispatching fire trucks, equipment operation, and the working environment of crews to determine priorities for maintenance, repair, new construction, and reconstruction for each building."