Wildfires scorch 15,000 hectares of woodland in Korea

Photo: WAM

The Korean government has announced that wildfires raging in the southeast of the country over the past few days have destroyed 14,694 hectares of woodland. The fires have resulted in 15 casualties, including four deaths, and forced over 3,300 people to flee their homes, according to Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday.

At a meeting held by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters in Seoul, Acting Interior Minister Ko Ki-dong shared the latest updates on the damage. He said that strong winds, dry weather, and other difficult conditions were making it harder for firefighters to bring the flames under control.

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To combat the fires, the government plans to deploy all available resources on Tuesday. This includes 110 helicopters and around 6,700 personnel. The wildfires are mainly affecting the areas of Sancheong, Hadong, and Gimhae in South Gyeongsang Province; Uiseong in North Gyeongsang Province; and the Ulju district of Ulsan.

As of 7 a.m. on Tuesday, firefighters had managed to contain around 88 percent of the fires in the five regions. However, Minister Ko said they would continue their efforts to stop the flames from spreading into residential areas.

Local authorities have also taken steps to reduce the damage by blocking roads and evacuating people from at-risk areas in advance.

Minister Ko revealed that Korea has already experienced 234 forest fires this year. He explained that most of them were caused by accidental blazes, such as fires started by mountain visitors or the burning of agricultural waste and trash.

The government has vowed to continue using all available measures to protect people and limit further destruction.