Korea Forest Service "Expanding Firefighting Forest Roads... Targeting 3,027 km by 2027"

The Korea Forest Service is expanding forest fire-fighting forest roads. This is to effectively respond to the increasingly frequent forest fire disasters caused by climate change and other factors.

A high-performance wildfire suppression vehicle is entering the wildfire site through a forest road, preparing for firefighting activities. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

On the 15th, the Korea Forest Service announced the "Strategy for Expanding Forest Fire-Fighting Forest Roads to Prevent Large-Scale Forest Fires" at the Government Complex Daejeon. The strategy aims to increase forest roads by 500 km annually, securing a total of 3,027 km of forest roads by 2027.

Forest roads have recently become essential at large-scale forest fire sites. In areas where forest roads have been established, it is relatively easier to deploy fire-fighting equipment and personnel, whereas in places without forest roads, deploying equipment and personnel is difficult, which slows down the fire-fighting efforts.

For example, a forest fire that occurred on the 8th in Hapcheon, Gyeongnam, spread rapidly initially due to strong winds, but fire-fighting personnel deployed through forest roads at night conducted overnight fire suppression work, increasing the containment rate from only 10% at sunset to 92% by 5 a.m. the next day.

However, a forest fire that broke out on the 11th near Jirisan National Park in Hadong, Gyeongnam, lacked forest roads, making it difficult for personnel to access the site. As night deepened, safety concerns grew, and around 10:30 p.m., all fire-fighting personnel withdrew, leaving the forest to burn until the next morning.

The Korea Forest Service’s rationale for expanding forest roads is precisely this. Until now, forest roads established for fire-fighting purposes totaled only 332 km in national forests, and the creation of forest fire-fighting roads in public and private forests is only beginning this year.

The effect of creating forest roads for fire-fighting purposes is significant. When a forest fire occurred last year in the Geumgang Pine forest in Sogwang-ri, Uljin, the Korea Forest Service emphasizes that thanks to the forest fire-fighting roads installed in 2020, fire-fighting personnel and equipment were deployed, saving approximately 85,000 Geumgang Pine trees aged 200 to 500 years.

Nam Sung-hyun, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, said, “Expanding forest fire-fighting roads is an essential requirement for three-dimensional fire suppression from both air and ground,” adding, “We will significantly increase the budget for forest roads through consultations with related ministries and actively open forest roads in national parks and other areas where forest road facilities are weak.”

Meanwhile, conventional forest roads are considered roads installed within forests for forest management. However, recently, they have gained popularity as spaces for disaster response such as forest fire suppression, landslide prevention, and forest pest control, as well as for public recreation and leisure sports.

Forest fire-fighting roads are constructed wider (3.5 m) than general forest roads (3 m).

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