Since 1:59 PM on the 8th, the fire burning the nearby hills in Yongju-myeon, Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongnam, was mostly extinguished overnight.
According to Gyeongnam Province and the Provincial Fire Headquarters on the 9th, the fire was 92% contained as of 2 AM, affecting a wildfire area of 163 hectares, with the fire front remaining 0.5 km away.
There were no casualties or damage to facilities, including 214 residents from six nearby villages who spent the night at evacuation shelters.
A fire in a nearby hill in Yongju-myeon, Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongnam, is burning the forest. [Photo by Gyeongnam Provincial Government]
The fierce winds from the previous day calmed to 0.6 m/s around 6:30 AM, and rain briefly fell from the sky.
At 6:47 AM, helicopters that had been waiting for sunrise were redeployed to assist with the main fire suppression efforts along with personnel.
A total of 113 pieces of equipment, including 35 helicopters, fire trucks, pump trucks, and water tanks, as well as 1,488 personnel including special aerial firefighting teams, firefighters, and soldiers, were deployed.
The provincial government, forestry, and firefighting authorities plan to make an all-out effort to extinguish the main fire on this day.
They plan to prioritize defending residential areas to prevent casualties and property damage, and to subdivide the area into 16 zones to allocate personnel accordingly.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
