![On the afternoon of the 23rd, the fire fighter in Hwachon-myeon, Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do, is working hard to extinguish the protected tree so that the forest fire does not spread to the 120-year-old pine trees. [사진 산림항공본부]](https://i0.wp.com/pds.joins.com/news/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/202103/23/393e6fb5-0b74-42b7-8538-61c8d857474d.jpg?w=560&ssl=1)
On the afternoon of the 23rd, the fire fighter in Hwachon-myeon, Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do, is working hard to extinguish the protected tree so that the forest fire does not spread to the 120-year-old pine trees. [사진 산림항공본부]
In the afternoon of the 23rd, 90% of the forest fires in Hongcheon, Gangwon-do were extinguished, and they are having difficulty in fighting fires at night due to the withdrawal of helicopters and strong winds.
Forestry and firefighting authorities at night, struggle against strong winds
According to the forestry and firefighting authorities, a forest fire, believed to be incineration of agricultural by-products, occurred in Seongsan-ri, Hwachon-myeon, Hongcheon-gun, around 3:52 pm on the same day. As of 8:30 pm, the evolution rate is around 90%, and the forest authorities estimate that 20㏊ of forest has been lost. When a forest fire spread to a 120-year-old pine tree designated as a protected tree in Hongcheon-gun, the fire extinguishers started to extinguish the tree by spraying fire on the protected tree.
Although there was no damage to the house due to a forest fire, four residents were evacuated to the Hwachon-myeon Welfare Center in case of an emergency. Earlier, around 5 pm, Hongcheon-gun sent a disaster message saying, “There is a risk of a forest fire occurring and spreading in Hwachon-myeon, so please evacuate the local residents to a safe zone.”
Forestry and firefighting authorities switch to the nighttime firefighting system
As the sun went down, seven helicopters that were used to extinguish wildfires were withdrawn. The authorities set up a forest fire integrated field command office in the assembly room of the Hwachon-myeon office and switched to a nighttime firefighting system. In the evolution, about 210 people, including the aerial extinguishing team, the special forest fire extinguishing team, the specialized forest fire extinguishing team, and public officials, were employed.
However, at the site of the accident, strong winds of 5 to 6 m per second are blowing, and it is difficult to secure visibility at night, making it difficult to evolve. The forest authorities plan to mobilize and evolve five helicopters and 230 personnel as the day dawns.
Hongcheon = Reporters Park Jin-ho and Paik Kyung-seo [email protected]
