A total of 5,630 residents evacuated...
Preemptive evacuation of 96 people from five care facilities
Containment rate at 19% as of 8:30 p.m.
Authorities are working together to block the spread of the fire in order to prevent damage to nearby apartments and other residential areas caused by the forest fire that broke out on April 8 in Hamji Mountain, Buk-gu, Daegu.
Kim Jeonggi, acting mayor of Daegu, announced at a press briefing at 8:30 p.m. that day, "To prevent casualties, we issued evacuation orders for 900 households and 2,216 people in Joyadong and Nogokdong, and evacuated them to Dongbyeon Middle School and Paldal Elementary School."
As a result, 400 households and 676 people from Nogokdong were evacuated to Paldal Elementary School and Maechun Elementary School, while 500 households and 1,040 people from Joyadong were evacuated to Dongbyeon Middle School. In addition, 2,164 households and 3,414 people from Seobyeondong were preemptively evacuated to Dongbyeon Elementary School and Yeongyeong Elementary School.
On the same day, authorities also issued preemptive evacuation orders to residents of Guam-dong, in addition to those in Joyadong, Nogokdong, Dongbyeondong, and Seobyeondong. There are a total of five care facilities in the area, and all 96 residents have been relocated to the homes of care facility workers or to Daegu Medical Center.
To prevent traffic accidents, access to and from Bukdaegu IC was restricted starting at 4:00 p.m. that day.
The forestry authorities plan to deploy 766 personnel, including firefighters and military units, overnight to establish a civilian defense line. Firefighting teams will build firebreaks and preemptively spray water on buildings in densely populated areas such as Joyadong and Seobyeondong.
Forest Service firefighting teams will be assigned to designated night suppression zones according to the fire line. In addition, two Surion helicopters will be deployed at night, focusing on protecting residential facilities.
Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) preemptively cut off electricity to seven households in the Joyadong area, as damage to some sections of the distribution lines was anticipated.
No casualties have been reported so far.
The forest fire, which started around 2:00 p.m. in San 12, Nogokdong, Buk-gu, spread toward residential areas such as Seobyeondong and Joyadong. At around 6:00 p.m., the response level was raised to the highest, "Forest Fire Level 3."
The ignition point of this forest fire is near the Geumho River and Bukdaegu IC. The Buk-gu area, where the fire broke out, experienced strong winds with a maximum instantaneous speed of 11 m/s at one point. The wind was expected to subside around 10:00 p.m. that night.
According to the Daegu city government, as of 8:30 p.m. that day, the affected area was 151 hectares, the remaining fire line was 8.6 kilometers, and the containment rate was 19%.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
