Daegu City Council member Ha Jung-hwan. [Provided by Daegu City Council]
Daegu City Council member Ha Jung-hwan. [Provided by Daegu City Council]

The Daegu City Council announced Tuesday that council member Ha Jung-hwan, representing Dalseong-gun District 1, had introduced an amendment to the city ordinance governing compensation for property damage incurred during disaster management activities by fire department civil servants at the 329th extraordinary session.

The property damage compensation regime was established to cover losses inevitably caused to citizens' property — such as front doors or vehicles — during firefighting, rescue or emergency medical operations. The system was created after it became common for firefighters responding to calls to pay out of their own pockets for such damage.

However, critics have noted that the current ordinance limits who qualifies as a party conducting disaster management activities and contains gaps in the scope and procedures of the compensation system, making it difficult to cover the full range of property damage that occurs at actual disaster scenes.

The proposed amendment would expand the definition of parties conducting disaster management activities from "fire department civil servants" to "fire agencies or fire brigades," extend the deadline for deciding whether to pay compensation and in what amount from within 30 days to within 60 days of receiving a claim, add loss adjusters to the property damage compensation review committee, and allow minor cases involving claims of 1 million won ($749) or less to be reviewed by a panel of three committee members.

The bill passed a review by the Planning and Administration Committee on Tuesday and is awaiting a full council vote Monday.

"I hope this amendment will streamline the compensation process and establish a fair, trustworthy system that citizens can rely on," Ha said. "Going forward, I will continue to strengthen the institutional framework to protect citizens' rights while allowing fire brigades to focus fully on their work at the scene."


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