YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — Area II’s fire department was selected as best on Army bases in South Korea for 2004 and now will compete against Army fire departments worldwide, officials said Friday.

Alex Temporado, Area II Fire and Emergency Services Division chief, said teamwork is why his 73 employees, who staff four separate fire stations, earned the top honor in South Korea this year.

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. H.T. Landwermeyer Jr., Installation Management Agency Korea Region Office director, and Col. Timothy K. McNulty, Area II commander, visited the station Friday to thank the firefighters and tour the facility.

Landwermeyer told the staff people often call soldiers heroes but firefigthers also are heroes. “I just wanted to come down here and say thanks,” he said.

McNulty told Stripes the fire department’s training program was one of its strengths in winning the chance to compete Army-wide. Firefighters use “very vigorous training program to maintain their skills,” he said.

In a nomination memorandum provided to Stripes, McNulty wrote that Area II hosts the “premier fire department in Korea and the one fire department against which all other departments benchmark.”

“During 2004, the Area II fire department responded to over 1,300 emergency calls at 18 widely dispersed areas including the largest garrison in Korea, an active airfield, a Corps of Engineers District compound and the United States Embassy; all told, over 1,700 facilities supporting a workforce in excess of 25,000,” McNulty wrote.

To keep the judging impartial, Leopold P.J. Dumond, Korea’s Fire and Emergency Services chief, said he asked fire officials from Osan and Kunsan Air Bases, Chinhae Naval Base and the Taegu area to judge his facilities. He said he reviewed and agreed with their recommendations.

Highlights of Area II’s year, compiled in a fact sheet, included: