The forest fire department, which started extinguishing the wildfire that spread from Uljin, Gyeongbuk to Samcheok, Gangwon with strong winds, is putting all their efforts into extinguishing the main fire in the morning of the 5th.
As soon as the day dawned, the forest authorities deployed 53 helicopters, including 25 helicopters from the Korea Forest Service, 18 military helicopters, 7 firefighting helicopters, 2 police helicopters, and 1 national park helicopter to Uljin and Samcheok.
About 1,200 firefighters, including civil servants, firefighters, firefighters, military units, and police, were also deployed.
So far, it has been estimated that 90 hectares (900,000 square meters) of forest damage in Samcheok has been lost, which is 126 times the area of a soccer field (0.714 hectares).
Four houses in Gopo Village, located on the border between Uljin and Samcheok, were also destroyed, and there were no casualties.
230 residents, including residents and residents of nursing facilities, were divided into town offices, welfare centers, and organic centers to evacuate, and they stayed up all night with anxiety.
Fortunately, there was no damage at the liquefied natural gas (LNG) production base in Hosan-ri, Samcheok, as the fire did not exceed Gagok Stream in Wondeok-eup.
In Samcheok, a drying advisory has been issued since the 28th of last month, and the humidity is currently very low at 16-20%, so the atmosphere is quite dry.
Even though the wind has abated, it is not possible to feel relieved as it can be observed at speeds of 4 to 7 meters per second.
An official from the Korea Forest Service said, "We are aiming to extinguish the fire in the morning, but the damaged area itself is wide and the air is very dry, so we will have to watch the situation."
Also, a wildfire in Okgye-myeon, Gangneung, around 1:20 a.m. on the same day is rapidly spreading into the East Sea delusion.
The authorities put 50 firefighters and 19 fire trucks to the initial firefighting process, but as the wind blew strong, the wildfire quickly spread to the surrounding area and spread to the East Sea around 5:30 am.
Dry advisory and strong wind advisory are currently in place in these areas, and the humidity is 36%, which is very dry, and the wind is blowing strongly at around 5 m/s.
The instantaneous maximum wind speed reached 19 m/s.
It is estimated that 60 hectares (600,000 m2) of forest, which is the area of 84 soccer fields so far, was burned in this fire, and 4 houses were burned down.
Yesterday at 10:20 pm, it was found that a forest fire in a mountain near Yeongdong Expressway, Songam-ri, Seongsan-myeon, Gangneung-si, had damaged 3 hectares (30,000 m2) of forest so far.
The forestry authorities have put in a total of 10 helicopters and 1,700 firefighters in the Gangneung and Donghae regions to evolve.
In addition, the wildfire that occurred in Kimsatgat-myeon, Yeongwol-gun around 12:40 pm on the 4th, is spreading to the neighboring Sansol-myeon with strong winds.
The forestry authorities are focusing their efforts on the evolution, including resuming the firefighting work by sending three helicopters, soldiers, and police at around 6:30 am on the 5th.
(Photo = Yonhap News)