Main Fire in Sacheon Wildfire Contained After 6 Hours and 15 Minutes ... Damage Expected to Reach 33ha

The Jinwha helicopter is spraying water toward the wildfire site. Provided by Gyeongnam Fire Headquarters

A wildfire that broke out in a hill in Gonmyeong-myeon, Sacheon-si, South Gyeongsang Province, was brought under control after 6 hours and 15 minutes.

According to the Korea Forest Service, South Gyeongsang Province, and the South Gyeongsang Fire Department, a report of the fire was received at around 2:45 p.m. on the 20th.

Forest and fire authorities deployed 25 firefighting helicopters, 35 fire trucks, and 555 personnel, bringing the main fire under control by around 9:00 p.m.

With winds of 3.9 meters per second blowing in the affected area, a Level 1 wildfire alert was issued at around 3:35 p.m.

A Level 1 wildfire alert is issued when the expected damage area is less than 30 hectares and the estimated extinguishing time is less than 8 hours.

No casualties have been reported so far, but it has been confirmed that one temple and about 33 hectares of forest have burned.

Forest and fire authorities are continuing to extinguish remaining embers and monitor the area to prevent the wildfire from reigniting overnight.

In addition, once the fire is completely extinguished, they plan to investigate the exact cause of the fire and the extent of the damage.