Counseling needs continue to grow as firefighters suffer trauma

Firefighters dispatched to a Busan high school on Friday respond to a bomb threat made via fax earlier in the day. (Yonhap)
Firefighters dispatched to a Busan high school on Friday respond to a bomb threat made via fax earlier in the day. (Yonhap)

With reports indicating a substantial number of South Korean firefighters being traumatized by their work, government data released Monday shows that less than half of the country’s fire stations currently have in-house counselors.

According to National Fire Agency data compiled by Rep. Han Byeong-do of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, there are 128 in-house counselors working at 268 fire stations nationwide. This marks an increase from 102 counselors in 2024, in which 79,453 counseling sessions occurred, meaning each counselor handled an average of 779 cases last year.

The number of counseling cases has steadily risen in recent years, from 48,026 in 2020. Last year’s survey conducted by the fire authority found that 4,375 firefighters were experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, while 3,937 showed signs of depression.

The same survey identified 3,141 firefighters, 5.2 percent of the 61,087 surveyed, as being at risk of suicide.

"The country being unable to handle mental well-being of fire officials is clear negligence on the state's part. … I will work with the government to ensure that each fire station has at least one counselor," Rep. Han said.

Trauma suffered by firefighters has been a highly discussed issue here, particularly with news that two firefighters, who had been dispatched to the scene of the Itaewon crowd crush in 2022, died in apparent suicide. It was found that one of the deceased had requested medical leave for mental health reasons, but was denied over a lack of connection between his problems and the tragedy that killed 159 people.

Last month's report showed that about a quarter of firefighters who requested medical leave for mental health were not approved.

Data indicates that large-scale disasters often lead to many working in the rescue operations being severely psychologically scarred. Data for 2023 from the NFA showed that 1,316 firefighters who were dispatched to Itaewon in the 2022 crowd crush were still receiving treatment for various side effects as of October that year, almost a full year after the incident.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com