<Anchor>
Yesterday (28th), the wildfire that started in Hapcheon, Gyeongnam and spread to Goryeong, Gyeongbuk was extinguished in 28 hours.
The forest covering the area of 950 soccer fields has been burned down, but I can't stop worrying about the fire coming back to life in dry weather.
This is KNN regular reporter.
<Reporter> This
is a mountain in Hapcheon, Gyeongnam.
Helicopters are constantly going up and down the mountains.
Retain water from nearby reservoirs and streams, and repeat spraying at the fire site.
The fire that started at around 2:30 pm yesterday in a hill in Hapcheon, Gyeongsangnam-do spread quickly to Goryeong, North Gyeongsang Province.
The expected damage area is 675ha, the size of about 950 soccer fields.
The wildfire, which started at the top of the mountain, spread rapidly with strong winds, reaching many villages and private houses as far as the eye could see.
About 600 residents of Hapcheon and old age were evacuated and spent the night awake at village halls and senior citizens’ halls.
[Gong Malsoon: It flies like sparks in an instant and then flies like real sparks...
.]
[Kwon Yi-won: I can't even eat well.
Sleeping too...
.
The lights keep coming down from behind...
.]
Thirty-nine helicopters and 2,000 ground personnel were deployed, and the fire was extinguished at 6 pm.
It has been about 28 hours since the fire started.
[Choi Byung-am / Commissioner of the Korea Forest Service: Due to weather conditions such as cloudiness, the fire-fighting helicopter was delayed a bit in the morning, and as the wind strength gradually increased…
.]
Will the fire spread again? Firefighters and local government firefighting teams are continuing to extinguish residual fires on the ground.
The Korea Forest Service maintains the national forest fire crisis warning level, considering that the dry weather continues and there is a high risk of forest fires across the country.
(Video coverage: Ahn Myung-hwan KNN, screen provided: Korea Forest Service)