REAL FIRE TRAINING FOR FIREFIGHTERS

[Anchor Lead]

One out of five new firefighters were sent into real fires without undergoing training with real fire. There just wasn't enough training facilities. The real fire training program isn't included in next year's budget either, causing concerns of poor training and firefighters' safety.

[Pkg]

Firefighters crawl to escape the 1,100-degree heat. This is a real fire training site where firefighters learn the characteristics of fire in different stages and how to ensure safety in a place actually lit in flames.

[Soundbite] Park Yeong-sin(Gyeonggi-do Fire Service Academy Instructor) : "Through this experience, they can determine whether they can stand the heat. Without such experience, they can’t dare go into the fire."

But not all new firefighters undergo such training. In the past three years, some 3,100 new firefighters didn't undergo the real fire training. That's one out of five firefighters. They get to see the real fire once they're assigned to their posts. It's not surprising that they're not as well prepared as those who underwent real fire training.

[Soundbite] Kim Hoi-mun(Firefighter) : "When I became a firefighter and saw the fire for the first time, I became so nervous that my heart beated very fast."

Only six out of 13 fire education facilities nationwide are equipped with such real fire training sites. The National Fire Agency asked the finance ministry for 2.6 billion won to build four more real-fire training sites, but it wasn't included in next year's budget.

[Soundbite] Lee Sung-man(Public Administration and Security Committee, Nat’l Assembly) : "The construction of real fire training site is directly linked to people’s lives and firefighters’ safety. It’s deplorable that such concerns are ignored and not included in the budget."

The number of firefighters increased nearly 70% in the past decade and some 3,800 more are to be hired this year. There are calls for investment in training and education facilities to keep up with the rising number of firefighters.