Impact of Fire Assistant Personnel on the Reduced Amount of Fire Damage in South Korea

Abstract

Previous studies have examined the status of volunteer fire brigade members, who are classified as firefighting assistants, observed problems in the firefighting administration, and suggested solutions for these problems. These studies are meaningful because they have led to the proposal and implementation of policies for an efficient firefighting administration. However, the references do not provide evidence on how firefighting assistants reduce the amount of fire damage in firefighting administration. Therefore, this study aimed to statistically analyze the impact of fire assistant personnel on the reduction in the amount of property damaged (RAPD) in South Korea. For this purpose, panel data based on firefighting officers (FFOs), volunteer firefighters (VFFs), obligatory firefighters (OFFs), and the RAPD of 16 metropolitan councils in South Korea from 2011 to 2018 were obtained and analyzed. The results demonstrate that population (POP)/FFO, VFF/FFO, and OFF/FFO did not significantly influence RAPD (p < 0.01). However, negative regression coefficients are shown for POP/FFO and VFF/FFO, and positive regression coefficients are shown for OFF/FFO. These results can form an evidence base to explain the relationship between fire assistant personnel and RAPD.