Six years after South Korea's firefighters were converted to national government employees, fire services remain heavily dependent on local budgets. The National Fire Agency's spending will grow more slowly than overall government expenditure next year, and budgets for special-disaster response equipment and for education and training have been cut sharply. The fire safety grant tax, a key revenue source for local fire budgets, is projected to fall by nearly 28% next year, raising concerns that the financial burden on local governments could grow.
Under the 2027 budget proposal the government submitted to the National Assembly, the National Fire Agency's budget for next year is 371.275 billion won, up 34.812 billion won, or 10.3%, from 336.463 billion won this year, according to figures released on the 20th. That increase is 2.5 percentage points below the 12.8% growth projected for total government spending next year.
The steepest cuts hit funding to expand special-disaster response equipment. The budget for response vehicles and equipment upgrades at the Joint Chemical Disaster Response Center falls to 250 million won next year from 9.381 billion won this year, a decline of 97.3%. Funding for vehicles and equipment at the Central 119 Rescue Services was cut 90.0%, to 694 million won from 6.942 billion won.
Budgets tied to emergency medical response and to education and training also declined. Funding for a smart system that triages patients in mass-casualty incidents and supports hospital transfers was cut 97.1%, to 32 million won from 1.09 billion won, with the government citing weak execution of the program. The budget for upgrading live-fire training facilities was cut 54.6%, funding for fire safety policy research 33.1%, and the operating budget for fire service education 15.0%. The operating budget for the National Fire Research Institute was also reduced. While demand for new investment in advanced firefighting equipment is rising, budgets for some existing programs were trimmed based on spending performance and shifting priorities.
As the fire agency's budget growth lags overall government spending, the share of central funding for frontline fire services is also falling. Of the 8.5967 trillion won in fire service budgets nationwide this year, central government funding accounted for just 923.8 billion won, or 10.7%. The remaining 7.6728 trillion won, or 89.3%, came from local budgets. In 2021, just after the conversion to national employment, central funding was 994.7 billion won of a total 6.6893 trillion won, or 14.9%. The central share has thus fallen 4.2 percentage points in five years. Over that period, total fire service budgets rose 1.9074 trillion won while central funding actually fell 70.9 billion won.
Firefighters became national government employees in 2020, but firefighting itself remains the legal responsibility of local governments. The National Fire Agency handles response to large-scale and special disasters and the development of advanced equipment, while local governments bear most of the cost of running frontline fire stations, paying salaries and expanding equipment.
Against that backdrop, the fire safety grant tax, a key revenue source for local fire budgets, will shrink sharply next year. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the grant is projected at 760.5 billion won next year, down 289.7 billion won, or 27.6%, from 1.0502 trillion won this year. The decline reflects lower revenue from the individual consumption tax levied on cigarettes. With local budgets already carrying most of the load, a smaller grant could disrupt equipment purchases and facility improvements, officials and experts warn.
The issue of local dependence in fire financing drew attention recently when Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae described fire-related spending as a drain on local finances. Choo made the remark at a parliamentary audit of government agencies on the 13th and, after facing criticism, apologized again to firefighters on the 19th.
"In keeping with firefighters' conversion to national employment, central funding for their salaries should be expanded, and at the same time investment in special-disaster response equipment and in education and training, which the central government handles, needs to be strengthened," said Baek Dong-hyun, professor emeritus of fire and disaster prevention at Gachon University.