‘Welcome Rain’ All Wildfires Nationwide Fully Extinguished

All wildfires that occurred simultaneously across the country have been fully extinguished. This was thanks to the nationwide rainfall that helped quell the flames.

A super-large wildfire suppression helicopter is conducting firefighting activities at the wildfire site. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

According to the Korea Forest Service on the 5th, a total of 53 wildfires broke out nationwide from the 2nd to the 4th. In particular, large-scale wildfires over 100 hectares occurred in five locations: on the 2nd in Hongseong, Chungnam and Daejeon (Gumsan border), and on the 3rd in Hampyeong and Suncheon, Jeonnam, and Yeongju, Gyeongbuk. This is recorded as the highest number of wildfires in the shortest period since 1986.

The nationwide wildfires, including these large-scale ones, were fully extinguished by 5:15 p.m. on the 4th, largely due to the beneficial rain that fell across the country.

Conversely, the average precipitation nationwide from January to March was 85.2 mm, significantly less than the usual average of 120.6 mm. Because of this, dry weather persisted in many parts of the country, and combined with strong winds, wildfires rapidly spread and escalated into large-scale fires, creating adverse conditions.

In particular, the Korea Forest Service explained that the wildfire in Hongseong, Chungnam expanded into a large-scale fire within 2 hours and 20 minutes of its outbreak due to strong winds exceeding 15 m/s at times.

The fortunate aspect is that there were no casualties caused by the wildfires over the past three days.

However, damage to facilities caused by the wildfires is tentatively estimated at 95 locations, including 42 houses, 4 factories, 36 warehouses, 6 vinyl greenhouses, and 7 other structures, with the affected forest damage area totaling 3,091 hectares.

A Korea Forest Service official stated, “Thanks to the beneficial rain that fell nationwide, all wildfires that spread over the past three days have been fully extinguished. However, the wildfire risk could rise again due to weather conditions after the rain, burning of agricultural residues during the farming season, and arson by visitors, so we cannot let our guard down.”

He added, “The Korea Forest Service plans to expand support projects for shredders that can pulverize agricultural residues instead of burning them to prevent wildfires, and strengthen wildfire monitoring functions using artificial intelligence and information and communication technology. Additionally, we plan to expand wildfire firefighting roads, deploy ultra-large helicopters, high-performance firefighting vehicles, and increase the wildfire disaster special firefighting teams.”

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