In the high-density residential environments of modern society, securing the "golden time" in the event of a fire in apartment complexes is a critical task directly linked to the safety of lives. To address this, the Framework Act on Fire Services was...
In the high-density residential environments of modern society, securing the "golden time" in the event of a fire in apartment complexes is a critical task directly linked to the safety of lives. To address this, the Framework Act on Fire Services was amended in 2018 to mandate the installation of designated fire engine parking zones and introduce strong penalties. However, the effectiveness of this system is still not being secured in the field. Even after the enforcement of the law, the number of fines imposed in Gyeonggi-do increased more than 12-fold from 40 cases in 2022 to 490 cases in 2024. This clearly demonstrates the discrepancy between the system and reality, where violations are not eradicated despite strengthened penalties.
The purpose of this study is to diagnose the fundamental causes of this problem and propose measures to secure its effectiveness. To this end, illegal parking complaints and fine imposition statistics in Gyeonggi-do were quantitatively analyzed, and the practical awareness of firefighters was identified through a survey of 102 fire officials. In addition, a case study of Songtan Fire Station, which successfully reduced repeated complaints, was analyzed in depth to seek field-centered improvement measures.
The results of the study identified three key problems hindering the effectiveness of the current system. First is administrative confusion due to the absence of detailed operational guidelines that do not consider the severity and motivation (livelihood type, etc.) of violations. Second is the lack of civic awareness and safety insensitivity (54.9%), which field firefighters pointed out as the biggest cause. Third is the "legal blind spot" problem arising from the fact that the law applies only to 0.011% of newly built apartment complexes.
To solve these problems, this study proposed three policy and institutional improvement measures. First, administrative rationality should be enhanced by introducing differential enforcement standards based on the severity of violations and a temporary parking permit system for livelihood-type vehicles, which 77.5% of survey respondents agreed with. Second, visual enforcement should be secured by upgrading the current yellow road markings to the red standard level of U.S. Fire Lanes and mandating the installation of LED gobo lights and vertical warning signs. Third, the enforcement system should be strengthened by introducing ICT technologies (CCTV, IoT) in habitual violation areas and clearly redefining the roles of management entities and fire departments. Finally, it was proposed to establish the social foundation of the system through the establishment of mandatory education for fire safety managers and the strengthening of public relations centered on securing the golden time.