Over 17,000 Soccer Fields Lost to Uiseong Wildfire
Fire Command Center Evacuated as Blaze Spreads
Emergency Mobilization Order Issued as Flames Reach Andong Hills
The wildfire that broke out in Uiseong-gun, Gyeongbuk, has entered its fourth day, but the flames remain fierce. The containment rate, which once exceeded 60%, has dropped back to the 50% range due to strong winds. The main fire has still not been controlled, and with the fire spreading to Andong, an emergency has been declared. Some areas are experiencing shortages of manpower and equipment.
According to the Central Safety Countermeasures Headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety as of 5 a.m. on the 25th, wildfire suppression efforts are still underway in Sancheong and Hadong in Gyeongnam, Uiseong in Gyeongbuk, Ulju in Ulsan, and Gimhae in Gyeongnam. Fortunately, the wildfires in Gimhae and Ulju are in the final stages of containment, and the fires around Sancheong and Hadong are nearly 90% contained.
The problem lies with the Uiseong wildfire. The damage area reaches 12,565 hectares, equivalent to about 17,000 soccer fields. The wildfire, caused by an arsonist among grave visitors, has forced 3,116 people to evacuate in the Uiseong area alone, and 92 houses have been destroyed. Casualties are also increasing. The death toll from the wildfire stands at 15. Among them, four people died, including three wildfire suppression workers and one government official who were engaged in firefighting efforts in Sancheong-gun. Five people are seriously injured, and three have minor injuries.
The containment rate, which rose to 60% the previous evening, is declining. Strong gusts of wind reaching a maximum instantaneous speed of 35 meters per second near the mountain peaks have revived the wildfire’s intensity. Eventually, the command center located in Anpyeong-myeon, Uiseong, was evacuated to Uiseong-eup. Currently, the fire has spread from Uiseong to the nearby hills of Gil-an-myeon, Andong, crossing the boundary marked by the road. The Central Expressway from the Uiseong interchange to the Andong junction has been completely closed.
The fire authorities have deployed 62 helicopters and over 2,600 personnel to Uiseong alone. Nevertheless, some sites are reportedly struggling with shortages of manpower and equipment. This is why the government issued National Fire Mobilization Order No. 3 the previous night. Mobilization Order No. 3 is issued during large-scale disasters, mobilizing more than 200 fire trucks and firefighting personnel and equipment nationwide. Following the issuance of Order No. 3, 73 additional pump trucks were mobilized from 13 cities and provinces including Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, and Daejeon. So far, a total of 320 fire trucks have been deployed to fight the wildfires in the Gyeongsang region.
However, some sites continue to report shortages of manpower and equipment. Typically, when a fire breaks out in the mountains, wildfire suppression workers are the first to respond. These workers are not government officials but daily laborers recruited by the Korea Forest Service as part of a 'public job project.' Each regional forest office has only several hundred such workers, and among the four fatalities in Sancheong-gun, three were wildfire suppression workers. The 'special suppression teams,' which are considered more specialized than the wildfire suppression workers, number fewer than 500. The high-performance wildfire suppression vehicles they operate are also reportedly only in the dozens nationwide.
Meanwhile, as the damage from wildfires across the country grows, the government has additionally declared the areas of Ulju, Uiseong, and Hadong as special disaster zones following Sancheong in Gyeongnam. When a special disaster zone is declared, multi-ministerial measures including victim support are implemented according to relevant laws. Ko Gi-dong, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, said, "Due to strong winds, dry weather, and haze, the weather conditions are unfavorable, making firefighting efforts difficult. We will make every effort to swiftly contain the prolonged large-scale wildfires and minimize damage."
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