On the 11th, a forest fire broke out in Hadong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, and 190 residents were evacuated.
Evolution work has been going on for more than 6 hours, but as the sun went down, the forest authorities went into night work.
The fire occurred at 1:19 pm on the same day in Daeseong-ri, Hwagae-myeon, Hadong-gun, Jirisan National Park, and the forest authorities issued a ‘forest fire stage 2’ at 3:50 pm to prevent the spread.
Stage 2 of forest fire is issued when the estimated area of damage is less than 30 to 100 hectares, the average wind speed is 7 to 11 m per second, and the estimated time to extinguish is 8 to 24 hours.
The forest authorities once mobilized 31 helicopters, 31 equipment such as forest fire extinguishers and fire trucks, and 369 personnel from the Forest Service, local governments, and fire departments to extinguish the fire.
The helicopter was withdrawn due to safety concerns as it got dark, but 603 people, including special firefighters, were put in and the fire continues to be extinguished.
The area affected by the forest fire is regarding 85 hectares, and the fire line is a total of 4.3 km (remaining 2.3 km), and the evolution rate is regarding 46% as of 7 pm.
Forest authorities are using drone thermal imaging cameras to check the progress of forest fires.
The average wind speed of the wind blowing at the site averaged 1 m, which was somewhat less than immediately following the ignition (2 m per second).
There have been no casualties so far, but South Gyeongsang Province found that 194 residents of 79 households from two villages near the site were evacuated to nearby cultural facilities.
The forest authorities are assuming that the cause of the fire is a firewood boiler, and will reveal the exact cause and amount of damage following the fire is finished.
An official from the Forest Service said, “We will focus on night work on building a deterrent so that the forest fire does not spread further.”
