Wildfires started in Uiseong-gun spread to Andong-si
Wildfires in southeastern South Korea were spreading fast for the third consecutive days, with dry conditions and strong winds hindering firefighting efforts, sparking fears about the safety of the residents, Monday.
A total of 6,453 firefighters and 107 fire helicopters were deployed to the sites to combat the fast-moving fires as of Monday afternoon. However, progress remains slow, with thick smoke limiting helicopter access and strong winds fueling the fire’s spread.
Additional evacuation alerts were sent to Andong-si, North Gyeongsang Province -- a city which lies adjacent to Uiseong-gun -- as the strong winds fueled the wildfires to spread to the city.
The affected area spans about 8,732 hectares, almost a 5,000-hectare increase from the figure announced by the Interior Ministry on Sunday.
The ministry said a total of five large- and medium-scale wildfires -- in Sancheong-gun and the city of Gimhae in South Gyeongsang Province, Uiseong-gun in North Gyeongsang Province, Okcheon-gun in North Chungcheong Province and Ulju-gun, a western district in Ulsan -- claimed the lives of four wildfire responders and civil servants, and injured nine others.
It said the medium-sized wildfires in Gimhae and Okcheon-gun were extinguished Monday morning, but those in Sancheong-gun, Uiseong-gun and Ulju-gun are yet to be fully contained.
Cheongsong-gun, another county located close to Uiseong-gun, is reportedly monitoring the wildfire, planning measures to respond to the spreading fire and ensure residents’ safety.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was reinstated as the country's acting president on Monday morning, announced Uiseong-gun, Ulju-gun and Hadong-gun, North Gyeongsang Province were added to the list of special disaster zones.
The Interior Ministry explained that the decision was made as the scale of damage grew, including large-scale forest loss and the increasing number of wildfire victims.
With the weekend wildfires forcing almost 800 residents to evacuate their homes, then-acting President Choi Sang-mok initially designated Sancheong-gun a special disaster zone on Saturday, directing different ministries and government organizations to speed up recovery efforts and provide more comprehensive support for victims.
The designation of a special disaster zone allows the government to provide partial financial aid for the restoration of both private and public facilities damaged by wildfires. The affected residents will also receive a range of financial support, including a reduction in public utility fees, deferred local tax payments and more.
Negligence is suspected as the cause of the series of wildfires over the weekend that swept through hundreds of hectares in the country’s southeast, according to the police and fire authorities.
Investigations have yet to begin as the fires are not yet fully contained, but the police and fire agencies tentatively speculated that various human activities started the large-scale wildfires in Sancheong-gun, Uiseong-gun and Ulju-gun after verifying reports they received.
The police said they received a call from a local resident in Sancheong-gun claiming that sparks from a brush cutter used at a local farm started the fire. The police, having obtained testimony, plan to investigate the circumstances to determine the exact cause.
The police believe the wildfires in Uiseong-gun and Ulju-gun were caused by human activity as well.
Individuals who visited an ancestor’s grave in Uiseong-gun reported to the local fire agency that they accidentally started a fire while tidying up the cemetery on Saturday.
The police also secured testimony that a man in his 60s may have caused the fire in Ulju-gun while using welding equipment.
sj_lee@heraldcorp.com
