Experts urge tailored fire safety policies as residential developments expand into forested zones
Fire prevention experts are urging the government to establish specific measures for blazes near densely populated areas, following a recent wildfire in Daegu that took four days to fully extinguish.
At around 2 p.m. on Monday, a large-scale fire broke out at Hamjisan, a mountain near central Daegu. Due to dry weather conditions and strong winds, the fire grew to burn up to 260 hectares in about 23 hours, until the main blaze was declared to have been extinguished Tuesday.
However, as some remaining flames intensified later that evening, firefighting officials had to jump into extinguishing efforts again. The fire was declared completely extinguished at 8 a.m. on Thursday, and was confirmed to have scorched up to 310 hectares of woodland, an increase of 50 hectares from previous estimates.
As the wildfire at Hamjisan broke out near a densely populated area of the city, fire prevention experts have called for government-level research and response strategies to address urban wildfires.
According to a report on wildfires the Korea Forest Service released earlier this year, large cities such as Seoul, Incheon, Busan, Daejeon and Daegu are “at high risk of urban wildfire outbreaks.” Asked about the reason behind the increase in risk, professor Kong Ha-sung from Woosuk University’s department of fire and disaster stated that it “could be due to the rise in popularity of ‘forest-side living’ in Korea,” resulting in land near forested areas being developed as residential areas.
“Urban wildfires are particularly more dangerous, not only because such areas are densely populated, but also because high temperatures and dry conditions caused by climate change create an ideal condition that can fuel large-scale wildfires,” Kong told The Korea Herald. “Putting out fires near cities and wildfires require different firefighting techniques. If both break out simultaneously, suppression becomes significantly more difficult.”
Despite the high risks, however, professor Lee Young-ju from the School of Fire Safety at Kyungil University assessed that Korea is “ill-equipped” to handle such fires.
“In countries such as the United States, urban wildfires are classified as wildland and urban interface fires and are managed and studied differently compared to other fires. In Korea, that’s not the case,” Lee added.
Currently, the KFS oversees forest fires while the National Fire Agency handles general structure fires, resulting in jurisdictional confusion on the ground over urban wildfires.
For better urban wildfire preparedness, Kong suggested planting moisture-rich trees in areas where forests and buildings are adjacent to each other.
“Planting moisture-rich trees like sawtooth oak and installing rooftop sprinklers to prevent wildfires from spreading to different buildings can be helpful,” the professor added.
lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com
