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Even 15 hours after the Miryang wildfire that occurred in the morning of yesterday (31st), the fire is not easily extinguished.
All helicopters have now been withdrawn and nighttime firefighting operations continue.
Correspondent Hong Seung-yeon.
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White smoke continues to come out of the mountainside.
The fire started at about 9:30 am yesterday in a hillside in Bubuk-myeon, Miryang-si, Gyeongsangnam-do.
The fire spread rapidly due to the wind accompanied by a gust of wind, and at one time, about 470 villagers were evacuated, resulting in a dizzying situation.
[Lee Jeong-ja / Villager: (Mountain) There was a red flame in one place, and there was a little bit, so the flame passed over and spread out at once.]
The estimated damage area so far is more than 250ha, but the evolution rate is around 40% is ending at
As it got dark, all helicopters were withdrawn, and the forestry authorities are switching to a night-fighting system to prevent the spread of the flames.
The authorities plan to intensively put in helicopters in the morning to catch a big fire in the morning, but there are many variables such as dry air and gusts of wind.
[Nam Seong-hyeon / Director of the Korea Forest Service: The reason the evolution rate is a little sluggish is that there is a strong wind with an instantaneous wind speed of 11 m/s.
The smoke is making it difficult to extinguish.]
Forest officials will investigate the exact cause of the fire as soon as the fire is extinguished.