Forest Service Raises Large Wildfire Risk Alert Level from 'Caution' to 'Warning'

Criteria for Issuing National Crisis Alerts for Wildfire Disasters (Article 23 of the Enforcement Decree of the Forest Protection Act). Provided by the Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The wildfire risk has escalated, raising the wildfire crisis alert to the ‘Warning’ level.

The Korea Forest Service announced on the 24th that the national wildfire disaster crisis alert has been raised from ‘Caution’ to ‘Warning’.

The crisis alert was raised as of 5 p.m. the previous day, reflecting the increased risk of large wildfires due to the nationwide expansion of dry weather advisories and the issuance of strong wind preliminary warnings along the East Coast areas of Gangwon and Gyeongbuk.

Currently, dry weather warnings are in effect for all East Coast areas including the mountainous regions of Gangwon Province, as well as Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Ulsan, Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, and parts of Gyeongsang Province.

Additionally, strong winds of up to 20 m/s are expected until the 25th in Gangwon, Gyeongbuk, Jeonnam, Busan, and Ulsan areas. The Yeongdong region of Gangwon is under the influence of the typical Yangganjipung (a spring wind blowing rapidly between Yangyang-gun and Ganseong-gun in Gangwon Province), with anticipated peak wind speeds exceeding 35 m/s, increasing the possibility of large wildfires.

In response, the Korea Forest Service and local wildfire management agencies plan to deploy wildfire monitoring personnel on-site and intensify crackdowns on visitors carrying fire-related materials and the burning of agricultural and forestry residues in farming and mountain villages using drones and surveillance cameras.

Park Jong-ho, head of the Korea Forest Service, stated, “Special attention and caution are needed to prevent a recurrence of the large wildfire that occurred last April in the East Coast area of Gangwon this year,” and added, “Above all, we ask the public to actively participate by refraining from lighting fires near forest-adjacent areas and by following wildfire safety rules during hiking.”