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Amid dry weather, the Gyeongbuk Bonghwa forest fire that started in the daytime yesterday (5th) did not go out overnight.
The forestry authorities, which issued the 3rd stage of forest fire response and worked to extinguish the fire at night, re-introduced firefighting helicopters to extinguish the fire.
Correspondent Han Se-hyeon.
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red flame continues along the ridge, and black smoke continues to rise.
Near private houses, firefighters are busy with firefighting work.
The wildfire that started yesterday afternoon in a hill in Hwacheon-ri, Bonghwa-eup, Bonghwa-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, did not extinguish overnight.
The fire was carried by strong winds of 10 meters per second and quickly spread to the nearby hills, and the forestry authorities failed to catch the main fire.
The forestry authorities, which issued the '3rd stage of forest fire response' at 7pm yesterday evening, continued the night-time firefighting work by putting in 82 firefighting equipment and 700 firefighters.
Special firefighting team members worked all night to extinguish the fire, focusing on villages and barns near the fire.
So far, one vacant house and two warehouses have been burned and 120 hectares of forest have been lost, but fortunately there have been no casualties.
About 20 residents who had evacuated to the town hall have all returned home.
[Lee Young-ok / Socheon-ri, Bonghwa-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do: It is difficult to breathe because the smoke is so thick, and the mountains in front and back are on fire, so there is no time to forcibly pack clothes (evacuated.)]
The current extinguishing rate is 90%, and the forestry authorities started a complete firefighting process by re-introducing firefighting helicopters from 6 a.m. a little while ago.
The forest authorities believe that the fire started from the wood boiler ashes thrown away from the private house and plan to determine the exact cause of the fire as soon as the firefighting work is finished.