"Strong Performance Despite Adverse Conditions: Wildfire Incidents and Damage Plummet This Year"

The number of wildfires and the scale of damage this year have dropped significantly compared to the average of the past decade. Considering that wildfire risk has increased due to climate change, this is seen as a notable achievement. Experts attribute this to the Korea Forest Service’s strengthened mobile crackdowns and preparedness, effective inter-ministerial cooperation, and swift preemptive responses, which have played a critical role in wildfire prevention and containment.

Eunsik Park, Director of the Korea Forest Service (second from the left), is recently discussing firefighting strategies with officials at the wildfire command center. Korea Forest Service

◆Improved Wildfire Indicators=On April 21, the Korea Forest Service announced the results of the "2026 Special Measures Period for Large-scale Wildfire Prevention." This special period ran from March 14 to April 19.

During this period, there were a total of 98 wildfires, resulting in the loss of 24.3 hectares of forest. By comparison, between 2016 and 2025, an average of 168 wildfires occurred during the same period each year, with an average damaged area of 11,483 hectares. This means the number of wildfires fell to 58.4% of the ten-year average, and the damaged area dropped to just 0.2% of the average.

Wildfire statistics for January to April this year also show a clear decrease in both the number of incidents and the area affected. During this period, there were 267 wildfires—79.7% of the ten-year average of 335—and the damaged area was 748 hectares, just 5.4% of the ten-year average of 13,946 hectares (including last year’s Yeongnam wildfires).

Although both the number and scale of wildfires were lower than usual, the wildfire risk was higher than in previous years. For example, wildfire risk forecasts ranked March as the 20th highest and April as the 14th highest among the past 39 years.

Meteorological data shows that the average temperature during the special measures period was 11.5°C, which is 2°C higher than the historical average of 9.3°C. Precipitation reached 91.4mm, which is 4.4mm higher than the average of 87mm.

During this year’s special measures period, 19% of wildfires were caused by illegal burning, making it the leading cause. This was followed by industrial site negligence at 18% and building fires at 15%.

A super-large helicopter belonging to the Korea Forest Service deployed for wildfire suppression. Korea Forest Service

◆Sevenfold Increase in Mobile Crackdown Personnel=Analysts say that bolstering wildfire prevention and preparedness through special measures played a decisive role in minimizing the number of wildfires and the area affected. Above all, inter-ministerial cooperation is credited with creating a synergy effect in wildfire response.

During the special crackdown period, the Korea Forest Service deployed a cumulative total of about 14,000 personnel to mobile field inspections on both weekdays and weekends to conduct wildfire prevention activities. This is approximately seven times more than the 2,059 personnel mobilized last year. Personnel from the Forest Service headquarters, affiliated agencies, and public institutions were tasked with directly patrolling for unauthorized entry into restricted forest areas, illegal burning near forested areas, and activities such as cooking or smoking in forests.

In addition, during the special measures period, regardless of the wildfire crisis alert level, a Forest Disaster Control Officer was assigned overall responsibility for management, thereby increasing the efficiency of wildfire response. The operational readiness rate of helicopters was also increased from 66% last year to 82% this year to ensure rapid deployment in the event of a wildfire.

The wildfire suppression team is conducting ground firefighting activities at the wildfire site. Korea Forest Service

◆Synergy Through Inter-Ministerial Collaboration on Wildfire Disasters=Strengthening the inter-ministerial cooperation system has also been a key factor in wildfire prevention and containment.

During the special measures period, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety acted as the lead agency for disaster and safety management, operating the Wildfire Disaster Response Support Headquarters on a constant basis and overseeing coordination among the Korea Forest Service, the Ministry of National Defense, the National Fire Agency, and local governments.

The Ministry of National Defense supported wildfire suppression by dispatching 143 military helicopters to the scene (compared to 49 last year), enabling rapid response. The National Fire Agency responded immediately to wildfire outbreaks, assisting with initial suppression efforts. Together with the Korea Forest Service, they extinguished 139 fires near forest areas, successfully preventing their spread.

The Korea Meteorological Administration dispatched meteorological analysts to the Korea Forest Service’s National Wildfire Response Situation Team to provide weather information for wildfire locations. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Rural Development Administration supported the shredding of agricultural by-products, helping to eliminate the cause of illegal burning in rural areas.

As a result, the Korea Forest Service emphasized that it was able to achieve its goal of "zero large-scale wildfires" during the special measures period.

Eunsik Park, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, said, "Through joint efforts by all government agencies and the public’s interest and cooperation, we were able to reduce both the number and scale of wildfires this year. The Korea Forest Service will continue to maintain a full-scale wildfire response system with heightened vigilance until May 15, the end of the spring wildfire warning period, even after the special measures period is over."

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