Increase in 'Forest Outings' During Golden Holiday... Korea Forest Service's Full Effort for Wildfire Safety

A member of the Korea Forest Service's Special Wildfire Disaster Suppression Team conducting firefighting operations during the recent wildfire in Andong. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service will launch an "All-Out Response to Forest Fire Safety" from the 30th of this month to the 5th of next month.

This is in preparation for the increased possibility of forest fires due to a surge in mountain visitors during the bridge holidays from Buddha’s Birthday (the 30th) to Children’s Day, which coincides with the season for harvesting wild vegetables.

In fact, during last year’s spring holiday period (April 30 to May 5), 13 forest fires occurred, causing damage by burning 6 hectares of forest. This is twice the average number of forest fires (7 cases) during spring holidays over the past 10 years, and nearly three times the average forest damage area (2.2 hectares).

Above all, during this holiday period, dry weather warnings have been issued nationwide, and localized strong winds are forecasted, further raising the risk of forest fires.

Accordingly, the Korea Forest Service plans to implement special forest fire prevention measures during the golden holiday period from Buddha’s Birthday to Children’s Day, and will make an all-out effort to prevent forest fires centered on the central and regional forest fire prevention headquarters.

First, the Korea Forest Service plans to maintain an organic cooperation system that can deploy 168 helicopters to the scene in case of forest fires, including 116 forest fire-fighting helicopters (48 from the Korea Forest Service and 68 from local governments) and 52 helicopters from related agencies such as the Fire Agency and the Ministry of National Defense.

In particular, in the East Coast region, where the risk of large-scale forest fires is high due to the Yangganjipung winds, 10 forest fire-fighting helicopters, including two ultra-large helicopters, will be deployed forward to enable rapid suppression from the early stages of forest fires.

Additionally, to respond to large-scale forest fires on a wide-area basis, the Korea Forest Service will strengthen ground response capabilities by keeping 523 specialized personnel for forest fire suppression, such as aerial firefighting teams and special forest fire disaster suppression teams, on standby at all times. It will also intensify guidance and crackdowns around trail entrances and habitual wild vegetable harvesting sites to strongly respond to illegal entry and unlawful harvesting of forest products.

Park Jong-ho, head of the Korea Forest Service, said, “The recent forest fires in Ulju and Andong caused significant property damage and casualties,” adding, “This holiday period also forecasts dry weather and strong winds, making the risk of large-scale forest fires very high.”

He continued, “We ask the public to actively participate in preventing and controlling forest fires by refraining from lighting fires near forest areas during spring and by following forest fire safety rules.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.