Forest fires in Andong and Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province have not extinguished yet. In particular, the Andong forest fire was close to the village, so residents and hikers evacuated. The Forest Service has raised the forest fire crisis warning to a critical level, but as the days get dark, extinguishing is struggling.
First, reporter Kim Soo-young.
<기자>
Hazy smoke covered the sky.
A red flame burns horribly in the hills right next to the village.
Yesterday (21st) around 3:20 p.m., a report was received that smoke was coming up from Yasan, Imdong-myeon, Andong-si, Gyeongbuk.
Since then, the fire quickly spread in the direction of private houses in a strong wind of close to 6m per second, spreading to nearby middle schools.
The city of Andong and the fire department issued an emergency evacuation order to villagers and mountaineers in nearby villages, including 300 residents of Jungpyeong-ri, to evacuate to Imdong Elementary School.
[임동면사무소 관계자 : 민가 쪽에도 불이 강하게 접근하고 있다고 (하고요.) 면사무소 옆에 소방학교가 있는데 소방학교까지는 불이 붙었고요. 지금 코앞까지 불이….]
Extinguishing equipment such as helicopters and fire engines, and over 140 people including forest fire extinguishing teams were put in to extinguish the fire, but the flames were not easily caught.
[안동소방서 관계자 : 바람 때문에 산불이 많이 번지고 있는 상황이고요. 민가 쪽으로 지금 번지려고 하고 있고, 저희 쪽에서도 지금 방어선 구축해놓은 상태거든요.]
The firefighting authorities issued the Mobilization Decree No. 1 for forest fires and decided to mobilize fire fighting personnel in seven provinces, including Gyeongnam, Daegu, Ulsan, and Changwon, to extinguish the fire.
At the same time, fire and nearby residents evacuated from Yasan, Gamcheon-myeon, Yecheon-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and forest fires occurred in Hadong, Gyeongsangnam-do and Yeongdong, Chungbuk.
The Forest Service has upgraded the forest fire crisis warning to the’severe’ level, and the Ministry of Public Administration and Security is also operating a countermeasure support headquarters to support the extinguishing of forest fires.