Forest after forest fireFrom the 21st, wildfires that occurred simultaneously in Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Chungbuk, and Chungnam were all extinguished in 21 hours.
Fortunately, there was no human injury due to this fire, but hundreds of thousands of forests were lost.
In some areas, there was an urgent situation in which more than 100 residents were evacuated without even packing their luggage due to a forest fire spreading right in front of the village.
According to the forestry and firefighting authorities on the 22nd, the forest fire started at 3:20 p.m. the previous day at Mangcheon-ri, Imdong-myeon, Andong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and spread to Jungpyeong-ri, a few kilometers away, and extinguished at 12:20 p.m. on the day after 21 hours.
Accordingly, the fire fighting authorities lowered the second stage of response, which was previously issued at 12:40 noon, to the first stage of response.
From dawn on this day, more than 1,400 personnel including Gyeongbuk-do and Andong-si government officials, professional and special extinguishers, firefighters, and soldiers, and 23 forest fire extinguishing helicopters, were put into the field from dawn on this day.
The 108 residents of Im Dong-myeon took refuge in other villages, such as Senior Citizens, the day before, when a dizzying situation occurred in which fire and smoke erupted in a hill near a private house.
Resident Kim Man-ja (79) said, “My legs are still shaking,” he said. “The day before, the fire came to the front of the house, and embers were flying everywhere. Even if I evacuated only 5 minutes late, I was almost in trouble.”
The forest fire that occurred at 4:12 p.m. on the previous day at Yasan-ri, Gamcheon-myeon, Yecheon-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do and spread through the wind to Galsan-ri, Jangsu-myeon, Yeongju-si, caught a big fire at 10:25 a.m.
Gyeongbuk province has tentatively counted that 305㏊ of forest burned in three places, Andong (250㏊), Yecheon (50㏊), and Yeongju (5㏊) due to this forest fire.
Busy Fire HelicopterThree places, Yasan, Beolgok-myeon, Nonsan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, Maegok-myeon, Yeongdong-gun, Chungbuk, and Gujaebong, Akyang-myeon, Hadong-gun, Gyeongnam, burned the forest 3~21㏊ on the previous day, and were completely turned off at 9:25~45 am that day.
Even in the three areas where there were fires, dozens of residents were evacuated to the town hall.
The forest authorities are currently cleaning up remaining lights to prevent the embers from being revived, such as the wind, and have also deployed surveillance personnel at the site.
In addition, we are investigating the exact cause of the fire, as it is believed to have originated from the incineration of garbage and the embers left in the ashes of the firewood boiler that residents discarded.
The forest authorities said, “It is believed that the damage has increased as the dry trees burned rapidly due to strong winds in a very dry atmosphere,” and “We plan to determine the exact cause and damage area after an investigation of the forest fire site.”
Fire site in Nonsan, ChungnamMeanwhile, more than 3,300 people including preventive and special extinguishing teams, public officials, firefighters, and soldiers were mobilized to extinguish wildfires in five places nationwide.
35 forest fire extinguishing vehicles, 101 fire engines, and 74 forest fire extinguishing helicopters were also put in.
Park Jong-ho, head of the Forest Service, said, “The atmosphere is dry and there is a high risk of forest fires,” he said. “I ask the people to actively participate in forest fire prevention.”
(Reporter Ji Seong-ho, Kim Jun-beom, Cheon Gyeong-hwan, Choi Soo-ho)
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