Hapcheon Wildfire Spreads with Strong Winds... Response Raised to Level 3

At around 1:59 PM on the 8th, the wildfire response level at the wildfire site in Wolpyeong-ri, Yongju-myeon, Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongnam, was raised from Level 2 to a higher level.

The Korea Forest Service escalated the alert to ‘Wildfire Level 3’ at 5:30 PM as the fire spread rapidly due to strong winds, raising the national crisis alert for the Hapcheon wildfire disaster to the ‘Severe’ level.

According to Gyeongnam Province and forestry authorities, the estimated wildfire damage area is 123 hectares, with a fire front length of 4.7 km, and the containment rate is about 10%.

Approximately 200 residents from six nearby villages including Saeteo, Angae, Jang-gye, and Gwanja villages evacuated to village halls, senior centers, and health clinics.

Flames are rising from a hill near Wolpyeong-ri, Yongju-myeon, Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongnam.
[Photo by Hapcheon County Office]

Upon receiving reports from nearby residents who saw white smoke rising from the mountain, 27 firefighting helicopters, 11 fire trucks, 33 firefighting equipment units, and 533 personnel including special firefighting squads are working to control the main fire.

The fire department established defensive lines to combat the flames spreading with strong gusts of wind ranging from 5 to 12 meters per second.

Nearby transmission towers have been shut down, and power is being supplied via alternate routes.

So far, there have been no casualties, and the wildfire impact area has reached 109 hectares.

Gyeongnam Province plans to focus firebreak lines on protecting residential areas and key facilities, deploying 192 members of the provincial wide-area wildfire prevention and firefighting teams from 18 cities and counties to conduct nighttime firefighting operations.

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