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The main fire in Uljin, Gyeongbuk, was caught after 213 hours of heavy rain last weekend.

The East Coast wildfire was recorded as the most damaging wildfire, burning 41% of Seoul's area. 



Correspondent Suwon-wook.



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It was yesterday (13th) at 9:00 am when the forest authorities declared the fire extinguishing of the forest fire in Uljin, Gyeongsangbuk-do.



It has been 213 hours and 43 minutes since the first fire broke out in Ducheon-ri, Buk-myeon, Uljin-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do at 11:17 am on the 4th.



[Byeong-am Choi / Director of the Korea Forest Service (Yesterday): Declaring fire extinguishing at 9 am.

Four towns in Uljin-gun and two towns in Samcheok have been identified as tentatively damaged.] The



success in extinguishing the main fire is because the fire at Eungbong Mountain, which had been difficult to extinguish due to the steep mountain terrain, was caught.



5-10mm of rain fell overnight in areas where it is difficult to deploy firefighters, raising the rate of firefighting.



There were no casualties, but if you include Gangneung and Donghae, 24,940 hectares were burned by this forest fire.



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 the direction of the wind, causing the damage to grow out of control.



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

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The authorities, which have shifted from responding to wildfires to the stage of recovery, have begun to investigate damage and prepare countermeasures for victims.