In the most dangerous and desperate moments of everyday life, there are people who come to the scene of an accident.
These are 119 firefighters and rescue workers.
They rescue people from burning houses, from broken and mangled car accident scenes, and from cold, dark water.
Even in the face of national disasters or natural disasters, we bravely stand up and protect everyone's safety.
Even though you did your best to save someone, you still have to witness death up close.
While several major incidents have exposed the treatment of firefighters, there are still many stories they don't know about.

This book, "There Is No Today That Is Taken for Granted," is a revised version of "Rescue," published by Leader Books in 2021.
All the things the author saw and felt on the border between life and death as a firefighter and rescue worker were taken to heart and compiled into one book.
This revised edition has undergone a process of detailed revision based on the manuscript of the first edition.
We also added new stories, such as the recent simultaneous forest fires.
I also tried to more faithfully convey the author's thoughts on valuing life.
While reading this book, readers will also feel a warm realization that the life we ​​have been given was obtained through someone's help and sacrifice.

Maybe it's just an ordinary firefighter's memory, nothing special.
If we have to compare, the emergency room or operating room of a hospital is where life and death intersect even more fiercely.
The industrial site of a steel mill, where molten iron is boiling, may be a more dangerous place than my workplace.
I am by no means trying to compare myself to those who work there.
I just want to tell you that what countless fellow firefighters across the country have kept in their hearts and never spoken about is not something that should happen naturally.
The guilt of not being able to save the nameless people who died in the burning house, at the broken and crushed car accident scene, and in the cold, dark water is another reason for writing.
--- p.7

“Get the rope out!”

The rescue team leader installed the rescue rope on the wall pillar in front of the elevator door without saying a word.
I put on my rescue seatbelt as I had been taught and prepared to go down from the third floor to the first floor where the car had fallen.
I hung the rope on the figure 8 descender, put my weight on my butt, and took each step up the wall to descend into the dark parking tower.
The team leader shone a lantern, but the darkness was not completely resolved.
The sight of the parking machines sticking out from the walls here and there was creepy.
I landed slowly on the first floor, avoiding the chains and large machinery.
--- p.41

The car ride back after seeing him off was quiet.
Everyone stared out the window in silence.
The grief of losing a colleague is the greatest shock to firefighters.
Because it is the departure of someone who is no different from a brother with whom you have eaten, slept, and washed together.
The world outside the car window seemed peaceful, as if nothing had happened.
I just found it annoying how the world just went on like that.
That was my first experience with the death of a colleague.
I personally experienced the fate of a firefighter, where the greetings during the morning and evening shifts could be the last greetings in their lives.

I had a hard time accepting reality for a while after that.
The empty space he left was left for a while.
--- p.63

“Rescue by attaching three or more people to the rescue tube.
And unconditionally fall to the left or right.
“Never try to go against it!”

A rip current is a phenomenon in which water quickly drains far out to sea.
If you try to catch someone who is swept away and try to get them back up the river, it could endanger even the rescue workers.
It was best to get out to the side and escape the rip current.
There were cries for help here and there.
The waves pushed people back violently, creating white foam.
Those who managed to grab the tube were lucky.
I first approached the people who were struggling naked.
--- p.77

Since my daughter was born, my heart sinks whenever I see children getting hurt.
Our children, who should be growing up in a safe and protected environment, are getting hurt and dying all over the place.
Sometimes they are killed directly.
We must no longer allow young lives, not even chosen ones, to be sacrificed by adults.
In all the years I've been doing this work, I've never seen more children killed or injured.
If that were my blessing, it would be a blessing, but my colleagues who witnessed the children's accidents complained that it was quite difficult and painful.
I still remember the girl in the fire.
How are you living?
--- p.113

The Yeongnam wildfire left us with many things.
I saw the fear and terror that disaster brings, but also the people who overcame it and tried to rise again.
Although you have lost a lot, I believe you have also learned the value of what you must protect.
Now is the time to stop focusing on emotions and change the system and reality.
For the sake of those who perished in this wildfire and all those who risked their lives fighting there, I hope we will never take lightly the warnings nature will give us in the future.
--- p.158

When those who sacrificed themselves and lost their lives for others are treated with respect, the survivors find comfort in them and the courage to rush back into the field.
To return to the dangerous field where the lives of colleagues who were like family were taken, I need the empathy of many people who believe that the risk I am taking is worth it.
When we do that, we gain more courage and can confidently speak to young people who dream of this.
I said that it was something precious enough to risk my everything for.
Otherwise, the selfish human nature of thinking, 'If I get hurt and die, I'm the only one who suffers' will obscure the light of the uniform.
--- p.245

Rescue workers, who must save the dying at the scene of an accident, fight to prevent separation between people.
Death is the most extreme form of separation.
Dying at the end of one's life can create an environment in which one can mentally prepare for death and overcome the sorrow, but death by accident cannot.
So we have to survive.
We must prevent the painful separation called death.
That is the hardest and most noble thing a rescue worker can do.
By saving one person from a stroke, you may prevent the sad parting of many who knew them.

--- p.278