Hapcheon and Goryeong Large Wildfire Containment: Hidden Heroes Who Battled for 27 Hours

Firefighting Team and Military Officials, 'Ghostbusters' Who Cleared the Darkness to Exterminate the Fire Demon

Hapcheon-gun wildfire suppression team and county office officials are extinguishing the wildfire.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] The wildfire battle that took place over four days earlier this month in Hapcheon, Gyeongnam, is being overshadowed by the wildfires that followed in Uljin and Samcheok.

However, the heroic tales of the ‘Ghostbusters’ who fought fiercely alongside firefighting helicopters at the Hapcheon-gun Yulgok-myeon wildfire site and drove away the flames are still spreading from village to village.

Although helicopters dominated the airspace over the vast area where towering flames were carried by strong winds, continuously dropping water from high above, it was insufficient to control the embers that hid low on the ground and created new fire paths. The wildfire lost its life after their 27 hours and 34 minutes of intense battle, culminating in the main fire being extinguished.

There were those who fought desperately to stop the flames descending toward residential areas through pitch-black darkness. While the firefighting helicopters roaring in the open sky were invaluable, there were hidden heroes active within the unseen forest.

The large wildfire that started on February 28 in Noyang-ri, Yulgok-myeon, and spread to Ssangnim-myeon, Goryeong-gun, turned 675 hectares of forest?equivalent to 950 soccer fields?into ashes and was fully extinguished including residual fires after four days.

At that time, over 1,400 members of the Hapcheon-gun wildfire suppression team and county officials were deployed day and night for four days. During the day, they carried backpack pumps and wildfire rakes to handle residual fires and swiftly evacuated villagers under evacuation orders to village halls and senior centers.

At night, when firefighting helicopters could not fly, about 200 people were deployed to focus on building firebreaks and preventing the fire from spreading to residential areas throughout the night.

Additionally, thermal imaging drones were used to detect residual fires and were immediately deployed to prevent secondary outbreaks. The wildfire suppression team and county officials fought like this for three nights.

Hapcheon-gun explained that during the four days following the initial wildfire outbreak, 166 wildfire suppression team members, 1,200 county officials, 1,200 support personnel from other cities and counties, 95 firefighting helicopters, 65 suppression vehicles, and 122 fire trucks were mobilized at the wildfire site.

County Governor Moon Jun-hee praised, “The residents were moved by the dedication of those who were deployed day and night for four days to protect the lives and safety of the citizens.”

A resident of Hapcheon-eup said, “We were very worried about casualties due to the massive wildfire, but we are grateful for the dedication of the suppression team and officials who responded quickly.”

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