Assemblyman Jeong Heeyong Calls for Full-Scale Wildfire Prevention and Response System

Wildfire Damage Area Increases 3.8 Times Over Previous Five Years
Clear Trend Toward Larger-Scale Wildfires
February 3, National Assembly Members' Office Building Seminar Room 1
Forum on Paradigm Shift in Forest Disaster Response Systems to Be Held

Assemblyman Jeong Heeyong (People Power Party, Goryeong, Seongju, Chilgok, Gyeongbuk; member of the National Assembly Agriculture, Forestry, Food, and Maritime Affairs Committee) will hold a forum titled "Paradigm Shift in Forest Disaster Response Systems" on February 3 in Seminar Room 1 of the National Assembly Members' Office Building, aiming to explore integrated management strategies for increasingly frequent and large-scale forest disasters.

According to Assemblyman Jeong's analysis of the "Status of Winter Wildfires Over the Past 10 Years" submitted by the Korea Forest Service, the area affected by winter wildfires in the most recent five years (2021-2025) reached 2,553 hectares, a 3.8-fold increase compared to the previous five years (2016-2020, 679 hectares).

The area damaged by winter wildfires in the past five years has surged 3.8 times compared to the previous five years, highlighting a clear trend toward larger-scale wildfires. In particular, the scale of damage from wildfires in February was overwhelmingly high, underscoring the need to activate preemptive response systems even before the official start of spring.

Jeong Heeyong, Member of the National Assembly (People Power Party, Goryeong County, Seongju County, Chilgok County, Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, and Fisheries) / Photo by Kim Ihwan

The decisive cause behind this expansion in damage is the increasing scale of wildfires.

In fact, over the past 10 years, there were five large-scale winter wildfires, all of which occurred in February, with four of them concentrated in the most recent five-year period.

Just four of these large-scale wildfires accounted for a staggering 1,638 hectares of damage, representing more than 60% of the total winter wildfire damage during that period, demonstrating their overwhelming destructive power.

Monthly statistics also revealed the heightened risk of wildfires in February. An analysis of winter wildfire incidents over the past 10 years showed 313 cases in December, 453 in January, but a sharp increase to 775 in February.

This figure for February exceeds the combined total for December and January (766 cases). Notably, the area damaged in February alone was 2,677 hectares, which is 4.8 times greater than the combined total for December (154 hectares) and January (402 hectares), which together amounted to 556 hectares.

Assemblyman Jeong stated, "The 3.8-fold surge in winter wildfire damage over the past five years compared to the previous five years indicates that wildfires are entering a large-scale phase."

He added, "Given that all large-scale winter wildfires in the past 10 years occurred in February, it is essential to implement comprehensive wildfire prevention and response systems starting in February, before the onset of spring. Stronger and more proactive measures are needed to protect the lives of our citizens and our valuable forest resources."