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The combined area damaged by the Uljin and Samcheok wildfires, which was caught on the 13th today (13th), and the Gangneung and East Sea wildfires, which were extinguished earlier, amounts to 25,000 ha.

It is the size of about 35,000 soccer fields, and 41% of Seoul's area has been burned down.

The wildfire on the east coast of 2000, which suffered the greatest damage so far, left more scars than the wildfire on the east coast, and the scale of damage also became the largest ever recorded.



Reporter Jeong Ban-seok pointed out why the damage was so great.



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The fire that started in Buk-myeon, Uljin-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do on the morning of the 4th spread rapidly with strong winds.



It threatened the Hanul Nuclear Power Plant and covered National Road No. 7, then went up to Samcheok City in Gangwon and spread to the vicinity of the Samcheok Base of Korea Gas Corporation.



The next morning, a man in his 60s set a fire in Okgye-myeon, Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, and it spread with the wind and engulfed the East Sea.



[Careful, come quickly!]



The Uljin wildfires continued to threaten residential areas and the Geumgangsong colony in the southern sea again.



[Come down here in town, the fire...

.]




The Gangneung forest fire was extinguished in four days, and the Uljin forest fire was extinguished in ten days as rain fell at the foot of Mt. Eungbong.



There were no casualties, but 24,940 ha was burned if Gangneung and Donghae were included.



It is 86 times the size of Yeouido, occupying 41% of the area of ​​Seoul.



The single wildfire is the largest ever, surpassing the 2000 East Coast wildfire, which caused the most damage.



In dry atmospheric conditions, strong winds exceeding 25 m/s in an instant changed even the direction of the wind, causing the damage to grow out of control.



[Choi Byung-am/Director of the Korea Forest Service: As the dry weather and strong winds rapidly spread to national infrastructure such as Uljin Hanul Nuclear Power Plant and LNG gas base, and to densely populated areas…

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As the main fire of the Uljin wildfire is caught, the investigation to determine the cause of this fire is expected to accelerate.



Authorities are investigating the four vehicles of the suspect, believing that there is a high possibility of a misfire caused by a cigarette thrown from the vehicle.



(Video coverage: Choi Dae-woong, video editing: Jeon Min-gyu)