Firefighter issued unwritten warning after body not found due to negligence in search of Siheung greenhouse fire site

(Siheung = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Ji-won = In connection with the failure of fire authorities to find a body left abandoned despite three searches at the scene of a fire at a greenhouse in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, the firefighter in charge of the scene at the time received an unwritten warning, which is one level lower than a reprimand, which is a formal disciplinary action.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Fire and Disaster Headquarters announced on the 18th that it inspected the entire life search process that took place at the scene of the Siheung greenhouse fire and issued an unwritten warning to firefighter A from the Siheung Fire Station, who served as the head of the scene command team.

An unwritten warning is an administrative measure issued through a disciplinary committee and does not amount to a reprimand, which is a formal disciplinary action, but is a heavier measure than a general warning or caution. Disposition records are maintained for one year, and during this period, employees are excluded from government awards and commendations and may be subject to disadvantages in performance evaluations and performance bonuses.

In addition, out of the five other firefighters involved in the search, two were warned and three were issued cautions.

According to the 'Regulations on Dispositions such as Warnings to Firefighters', a warning is given when the degree of misconduct is serious and requires severe admonition, and a caution is given when the degree of misconduct is minor and it is necessary to make the person reflect on the mistake and prevent recurrence.

Firefighting authorities determined that they were unable to quickly find and recover the body because they did not conduct a detailed search for people, including closely examining blind spots at the fire scene.

In particular, in the case of Mr. A, he explained that he took this action because he believed he was responsible for neglecting on-site command and supervision.

Previously, the Siheung Fire Department received a report of a fire breaking out in a greenhouse for a weekend farm in Daeya-dong, Siheung City at 10:05 p.m. on June 27, and was dispatched to the scene and extinguished the fire in about 40 minutes.

Afterwards, firefighters searched the scene three times on the day of the fire, but withdrew after determining that there were no casualties. Detectives who later responded to the scene were unable to confirm any casualties.

However, the following afternoon, the daughter of a farm manager in her 60s who was living in a residential container within the greenhouse reported him missing, saying, "I can't contact my father," and the police searched the fire site again and found his body inside the container.

It had been about 17 hours since the fire brigade searched the fire scene and determined that there were no casualties.

Meanwhile, the Gyeonggi Fire and Disaster Headquarters took this incident as an opportunity to prepare measures to strengthen human search at fire scenes and distribute them to front-line fire departments and related departments on the 25th of last month.

Measures include conducting preliminary information surveys and registering for vulnerable residential facilities and strengthening life search training in field commander training courses.