Four Wildfires Nationwide on First Day of Lunar New Year Holiday... "Visitors to Ancestral Graves and Others Urged to Be Cautious"

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] On the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday, four forest fires occurred nationwide. The forestry authorities are urging visitors, including those paying respects at ancestral graves, to be cautious to prevent forest fires.

According to the Central Forest Disaster Situation Room of the Korea Forest Service on the 22nd, a total of four forest fires (based on occurrences before 5 p.m.) broke out nationwide the day before the Lunar New Year holiday began, and were extinguished within a short period ranging from about 20 minutes to 3 hours and 30 minutes.

The forest fires occurred respectively in ▲Usan-dong, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do (occurred at 1:00 p.m., extinguished at 1:25 p.m.) ▲Yeonsari, Yeoncho-myeon, Geoje-si, Gyeongnam (occurred at 1:19 p.m., extinguished at 2:29 p.m.) ▲Bangi-ri, Jeoksang-myeon, Muju-gun, Jeonbuk (occurred at 1:26 p.m., extinguished at 3:10 p.m.) ▲Guam-ri, Dohwa-myeon, Goheung-gun, Jeonnam (occurred at 3:57 p.m., extinguished at 7:30 p.m.).

From 2013 to 2022, the average number of forest fires during the Lunar New Year holiday period was 10 per year, with an average damage area of 3.08 hectares.

In particular, despite recent snowfall and rainfall, the forestry authorities assess that the risk of forest fires remains high during this year’s Lunar New Year holiday.

Accordingly, the forestry authorities plan to maintain a 24-hour emergency contact system throughout the holiday, ensure rapid communication of situations and support for firefighting resources among related agencies, and strengthen cooperative responses.

They also plan to focus on preventing forest fires caused by negligence by tracing the causes of forest fires and identifying and punishing the perpetrators.

The Central Forest Disaster Situation Room of the Korea Forest Service emphasized, “Although some regions have received heavy snowfall and still have accumulated snow, many areas nationwide remain dry on the surface, and careless handling of fire sources during processes such as garbage burning could lead to large forest fires.”

They added, “The Korea Forest Service will focus on investigating the exact causes and damage areas of forest fires to apprehend offenders. Especially, forest fires caused by negligence are serious crimes punishable under the Forest Protection Act, and will be punished under a zero-tolerance policy.”