Large Wildfire in Goseong, Gangwon Extinguished... Damage Assessment After Mop-Up Operations

Forest Service firefighting personnel are conducting wildfire suppression operations at the wildfire site in Goseong, Gangwon. Provided by the Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Goseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The large wildfire in Goseong, Gangwon Province has been fully extinguished. The forestry authorities plan to conduct damage assessments after completing mop-up operations.

According to the Central Wildfire Response Headquarters of the Korea Forest Service on the 2nd, the Goseong wildfire broke out around 8:10 PM the previous day in the Dowon-ri area of Toseong-myeon, Goseong-gun, Gangwon Province, and the main fire was extinguished by 8 AM on the 2nd, 12 hours later.

The Korea Forest Service deployed 16 wildfire-fighting helicopters, including one extra-large helicopter, 5,134 firefighting personnel, and 504 pieces of firefighting equipment at the wildfire site starting at sunrise (5:28 AM) to successfully extinguish the Goseong wildfire.

Due to the wildfire, 2,205 people, including 329 residents of nearby villages and 1,876 military personnel from the 22nd Division, evacuated to nearby elementary schools and other locations, but no casualties were reported. The evacuees are currently being allowed to return home sequentially.

However, property damage occurred with the destruction of six buildings, including one house and one cowshed.

The Central Wildfire Response Headquarters of the Korea Forest Service plans to investigate the cause of the wildfire and the extent of the damage, led by forest law enforcement officers, after completing mop-up operations at the site.

Park Jong-ho, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, said, “The Korea Forest Service, as the main agency responsible for wildfires, along with the Fire Department, Police Agency, local governments, and the Ministry of National Defense, cooperated closely to quickly extinguish the Goseong wildfire. Since wildfires can occur at any moment of negligence, I hope every citizen actively participates in wildfire prevention at all times.”

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