Hadong Okjong-myeon Wildfire Extinguished After 24 Hours ... Estimated 70 Hectares of Forest Damaged

A wildfire suppression team member is working overnight to extinguish a forest fire at Hoisan-ri, Okjong-myeon, Hadong-gun, Gyeongnam Province. Provided by Korea Forest Service

The wildfire that broke out at around 12:05 p.m. on the 7th in a mountain near Hoesin-ri, Okjong-myeon, Hadong-gun, South Gyeongsang Province, was completely extinguished after about 24 hours.

The Central Disaster Response Headquarters of the Korea Forest Service and South Gyeongsang Province announced at noon on the 8th that the fire had been fully contained, with a 100% extinguishing rate.

According to the forest authorities, strong winds of up to 20 meters per second overnight made firefighting efforts difficult, but the deployment of firefighting helicopters at sunrise significantly increased the containment rate.

Early in the morning, a total of 34 firefighting helicopters, 772 personnel, and 93 pieces of equipment were mobilized to extinguish the main fire.

Due to the spread of the wildfire, 506 nearby residents who had evacuated are expected to return home, and the only reported injury is a man in his 70s who suffered second-degree burns on both hands.

The affected area is estimated to be about 70 hectares, with the total length of the fire reaching 5.2 kilometers.

The forest authorities and South Gyeongsang Province are currently working to prevent rekindling by dividing 237 personnel, including wildfire suppression teams, military personnel, and public officials, into 10 zones to search for hidden embers among the fallen leaves and clean up remaining fires.

In addition, authorities suspect that sparks from a brush cutter caused the wildfire and plan to investigate the exact cause and the extent of the damage.

The Central Disaster Response Headquarters stated, "By intensively deploying firefighting helicopters and quickly mobilizing ground resources through forest roads, we were able to efficiently prevent the wildfire from spreading and complete the main extinguishing without significant damage to nearby villages and key facilities. We will thoroughly extinguish remaining embers and monitor the area to prevent any rekindling."