<Anchor> In
dry weather and strong winds, wildfires are rarely caught.
It is predicted that a strong wind of 20 m/s will blow today (the 6th) as well, but there is rain news about next Sunday.
Reporter Jung Gu-hee reports.
<Reporter>
Korea, including the east coast, is currently located between high pressure in the west and low pressure in the east, and the wind is blowing stronger than usual.
The wind speed of the weak stage typhoon is 17 m/s per second.
When the wind speed exceeds 15 m/s, the diffusion speed increases and it becomes difficult to operate the fire-fighting helicopter.
There is a possibility that the embers will be blown away by strong winds and cause another wildfire in other places.
It was understood that during the east coast wildfire that occurred in 2000, the embers were ignited by winds of 25 m/s per second, jumping over Gagok Stream, the border between Samcheok and Uljin, and flying 1.5 km.
If such embers cause a forest fire on a slope, the fire spreads eight times faster than on flat land, so manpower cannot keep up with the rate of spread.
The Korea Meteorological Administration predicted that today, a wind of 20 m/s per second will blow in Yeongdong, Gangwon and the east coast of Gyeongbuk, and a very strong wind of 25 m/s will blow in the mountainous areas of Gangwon.
As high pressure approaches from the west, the wind will subside a bit tomorrow, but the problem is that sunny days will be drier.
In Uljin, where the fire started, only 4.3 mm of rain fell during the month of February.
This is 11% of the average monthly rainfall of 36.9 mm.
Dry weather warnings have been issued for Uljin, Gangneung and Samcheok for the 20th day from February 15th.
The Korea Meteorological Administration is predicting that it will not rain on the east coast all week, and that it will only rain next Sunday.