East Coast Wildfire Today a Turning Point... Preventing Spread to Southwest Region and Protecting Geumgang Pine Trees

Yeouido 57 Times Ashes... Full Effort to Extinguish Main Fire

Forest fire near Geumgang Pine Forest, Geumgangsong-myeon, Uljin-gun, Gyeongbuk [Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ra Young-cheol] As the wildfires on the East Coast enter their fourth day, spreading mainly around Uljin, the 7th is expected to be a critical turning point.

The East Coast wildfires are simultaneously occurring in four locations: Gyeongbuk Uljin, Gangwon Samcheok, Gangwon Gangneung and Donghae, Gangwon Yeongwol, and Daegu Dalseong County.

As of 6 a.m. that day, the containment rates were 40% for Uljin and Samcheok, 80% for Gangneung, and 50% and 40% for Yeongwol and Daegu Dalseong, respectively.

While the East Coast area is somewhat under control, the fire is spreading southwestward.

To the southwest lies the Geumgangsong-myeon Sogwang-ri Geumgangsong forest cluster, and to the south is the densely populated residential area of Uljin-eup, prompting authorities to focus all efforts on firefighting.

Authorities plan to mobilize all personnel and equipment to extinguish the main fire within the day and simultaneously monitor remaining embers and prevent re-ignition.

Choi Byung-am, head of the Korea Forest Service, stated, "Today, we will deploy a large number of helicopters around the Geumgangsong forest cluster in Geumgangsong-myeon, and in the afternoon, 18 helicopters currently operating in Gangneung and Donghae will be moved to Uljin to focus on extinguishing the main fire."

If the wind direction shifts to a southerly wind, there is a possibility that fires in previously extinguished areas could reignite.

Firefighting efforts involve 17,940 personnel (2,068 firefighters, 2,978 government officials, and 12,894 from fire, police, coast guard, and military), 95 helicopters, and 781 vehicles.

With the national wildfire crisis alert at the 'Severe' level (issued on March 4), authorities are concentrating management on Uljin, Samcheok, Gangneung, and Donghae areas where there are concerns about human casualties.

In particular, as the wildfire has approached within 500 meters of the Uljin Geumgangsong forest cluster, dozens of helicopters are being deployed to pour water along each ridge, making every effort to protect the Geumgangsong pine trees.

The Uljin Geumgangsong forest cluster, established in 1959, is the only domestic seed orchard protection forest, with about 85,000 Geumgangsong pine trees over 200 years old spread across 1,600 hectares of forest around Sogwang-ri.

The Hanul Nuclear Power Plant remains in normal condition, and monitoring personnel have been assigned to four transmission lines (two in Uljin, two in Gangneung) that have been shut down. At the Samcheok LNG base, four firefighting vehicles and 113 personnel are on emergency standby.

As of 6 a.m. that day, the wildfire had damaged 16,775 hectares of forest (area affected by the wildfire).

This is the second-largest wildfire in history following the 2000 East Coast wildfire.

The damaged area exceeds one-quarter of the size of Seoul (60.5 hectares). This corresponds to 57.8 times the area of Yeouido (290 hectares, inside the Yunjung-ro embankment) and is equivalent to 23,466 soccer fields (0.714 hectares each) combined.

By region, estimated damage is 12,039 hectares in Uljin, 656 hectares in Samcheok, 80 hectares in Yeongwol, 1,900 hectares in Gangneung, and 2,100 hectares in Donghae.

No human casualties have been reported so far, but 512 facilities were damaged, and 343 houses were destroyed, including 272 in Uljin and 63 in Donghae.

Among cultural assets, the Odalsan Beacon Mound in Donghae City (Gangwon Province Monument No. 13) was damaged.

As of 9 p.m. on the previous day (6th), 4,659 households totaling 7,355 people had evacuated. Temporary shelters such as public facilities, village halls, and senior centers housed 436 households and 485 people across 18 locations.

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