On the 7th, the Fire Agency announced that it would issue the second national firefighting mobilization order for Gangneung, Gangwon Province, which is suffering from severe drought, and send 20 water tankers capable of carrying 10,000 liters (L) of water. The national firefighting mobilization order is a measure to mobilize firefighting resources at the national level when local firefighting forces alone are insufficient to respond to a disaster.
On that day, the Fire Agency stated that it had decided to dispatch 20 water tankers sourced from Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, Ulsan, Sejong, and Jeonbuk to Gangneung. The firefighting authorities plan to provide water supply support at the Gangbuk Public Sports Field in the Yeonggok district of Gangneung at 11 a.m. on the 8th.
This summer, the drought in Gangneung is the second most severe since weather observations began in 1912. Following the summer of 1917 (187.4 mm), the summer precipitation (187.9 mm) is the lowest in 108 years. The precipitation over the past six months was also 387.7 mm, less than half of the average.
President Lee Jae-myung instructed the cabinet on the 30th of last month to declare a state of disaster and issue a firefighting mobilization order. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety declared a state of disaster in the Gangneung area at 7 p.m. that day. This is the first time a state of disaster has been declared due to natural disasters such as droughts. In addition, the Fire Agency issued the first national firefighting mobilization order, gathering 71 fire trucks nationwide in Gangneung.
As of 11 a.m. on that day, the water level of the Obong Reservoir, which supplies 87% of the water for the daily needs of Gangneung residents, was 12.6%, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous day.