A firefighter dispatched to a rescue site downloaded a video of the person he rescued, who was lying down naked at the time, from a wearable camera onto his cell phone and later shared the video with a colleague. The firefighter was referred to the disciplinary board at the fire station, but only received a warning for his action. Fire stations introduced wearable cameras to prevent violence against rescue workers, but experts point out that the latest incident occurred because fire authorities had no guidelines on the operation and management of the videos captured on site, including editing and distribution.

According to the coverage by the Kyunghyang Shinmun on January 18, A, a rescue worker in the field response team of the Seoul Jungbu Fire Station, was dispatched to a multiplex housing in downtown Seoul last August following a report that the caller’s family, B, could not be contacted. At the time, A climbed a ladder and entered the house to make the rescue. In the process, the image of B, who was drunk and asleep, was captured and saved on his wearable camera. Later A downloaded the video onto his cell phone and shared it with another colleague when changing shifts. Such actions were disclosed on an anonymous online bulletin board for tips on any illegal activities by fire service workers.

The Seoul Jungbu Fire Station held a meeting of its disciplinary board on October 21, but let A go with a warning. The warning was a disciplinary measure lighter than the light disciplinary measures, such as a pay cut or reprimand, stipulated in the Public Officials Act. One official at the fire station who was on the disciplinary board said, “The video was deleted. We seized A’s cell phone and wearable camera and conducted digital forensics analysis twice, but failed to restore the video.” He added, “We confirmed that the video was not leaked to the outside.”

The Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters was also aware of the incident, but never conducted an inspection. An official in charge of auditing in the fire service explained, “For ranks of fire lieutenants and lower, the chief of the local fire station has the primary authority to conduct an inspection,” and said, “Headquarters cannot intervene in a case where the local chief already took action.”

According to the minutes of the disciplinary board meeting at the time, A admitted that he downloaded the video on his cell phone without permission and shared it with a colleague. However, he argued that his intention was not to look at the female body. In a phone call with the Kyunghyang Shinmun, A said, “I only saved the video to study what could be improved at a rescue site.” He further said, “She (the person being rescued) had her arms around a pillow, so they (sensitive areas) were all covered up. You couldn’t even see her face.”

When asked if there was no mention of the woman’s body when he showed the video to his colleague, he said, “It’s been a while and I don’t remember that. We were in the process of handing over tasks, and I don’t think I need to tell you the details of our job.” A was recently transferred to another position and is no longer a rescue worker.

Wearable cameras were introduced in 2014 to keep records in case of unexpected incidents, such as violence against fire fighters when dispatched to fight fires, respond to emergencies, and to conduct rescue operations. Son Won-bae, a professor of fire administration at Chodang University said, “They (wearable cameras) are used as important evidence when firefighters are caught in a dispute over fairness, but there are no specific regulations on how to manage the videos, which could include the sensitive privacy of the citizens.” The police have regulations on the management of wearable police camera systems, which state the scope of usage, rules that the user must follow, and the storage period.

Seoul Jungbu Fire Station announced, “We plan to make an official request for a police investigation,” only after the Kyunghyang Shinmun began covering the case.