South Korea's Worst Wildfires in History Leave More Than 25 Dead

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Wildfires that broke out in South Korea days ago continue to ravage the country’s south-east.
At least 27 people have been killed and 37,000 have been forced to flee.
South Korea’s acting president Han Duck-soo says the fires are the ‘most devastating’ in the country’s history.

Wind-driven wildfires in South Korea are now the largest and deadliest on record, having burned more forest and killed more people than any previous blaze, officials said Thursday, as the death toll hit 27.

More than a dozen fires broke out over the weekend, scorching wide swathes of the southeast and forcing around 37,000 people to flee, with the fire cutting off roads and downing communications lines as residents escaped in panic.

South Korea’s Ministry of Interior and Safety said that 27 people had been killed and dozens more injured, with the toll likely to rise. It is the highest number of deaths since the Korea Forest Service started records for wildfires in 1987.

Many of those killed were residents — in particular the elderly.

The death toll also included a pilot who died after a helicopter crashed on Wednesday during efforts to contain wildfires in the southeastern town of Uiseong, one of the areas hardest hit.

The aircraft had no other crew members.

The National Fire Agency said at least 26 other people sustained varying degrees of injuries.

Trees burn in the distance as a tombstone is shown in the foreground.

Multiple blazes have caused “unprecedented damage”, South Korea’s acting president has said. Source: AFP / Yasuyoshi Chiba

More than 35,000 hectares of forest have been burned, Lee Han-kyung, disaster and safety division chief said, adding that the fire was still spreading “rapidly”.

The extent of damage makes it South Korea’s largest ever wildfire, after an inferno in April 2000 that scorched 23,913 hectares across the east coast.

In a televised address, South Korea’s acting president Han Duck-soo said the wildfires that began on Friday were causing worse damage than many other past wildfires.

“Damages are snowballing,” Han said.

“There are concerns that we’ll have wildfire damages that we’ve never experienced, so we have to concentrate all our capabilities to put out the wildfires in the rest of this week.”

Authorities said changing wind patterns and dry weather had revealed the limitations of conventional firefighting methods.

People sitting on the floor of an evacuation site.

More than 27,000 people were forced to evacuate due to the wildfires. Source: AFP / Yasuyoshi Chiba

“A small amount” of between five and 10 millimetres of rain was expected on Thursday.

Observers say the ongoing wildfires are the third biggest in South Korea in terms of land burned.

Han has described them as South Korea’s “most devastating”. They are the country’s deadliest.

Officials in several southeastern cities and towns had ordered residents to leave on Tuesday as firefighters struggled to contain multiple blazes fuelled by dry winds.

The largest fires were in Andong, the neighbouring counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, and the city of Ulsan, according to the interior ministry.

Earlier on Tuesday, officials had said firefighters had extinguished most of the flames from the largest wildfires in those areas, but wind and dry conditions allowed the blazes to spread again.

But efforts to fight the fires were partially suspended overnight as the winds strengthened.

The blaze in Uiseong destroyed nearly half of more than 30 structures at Gounsa, a temple that was said to be originally built in the seventh century.

Residual flames burn on top of wreckage as a temple sits in the background.

Most of the buildings at Gounsa Temple in Uiseong were burned to the ground during the wildfire outbreaks. Source: AFP / Yasuyoshi Chiba

Among the destroyed structures were two state-designated “treasures”: a pavilion-shaped structure built on a stream in 1668 and a Joseon Dynasty structure built in 1904 to mark the longevity of a king.

The temple’s other state-designated “treasure”, a stone Buddha statue reportedly manufactured in the eighth century, was moved to a safe place, according to government and Buddhist officials.

A firefighter spraying a hose from the top of a firetruck.

A firefighter extinguishing the remaining flames after most of the buildings were burned to the ground in a wildfire at Gounsa Temple in Uiseong. Source: AFP / Yasuyoshi Chiba

The Korea Forest Service said it had raised its wildfire warning to the highest “serious” level nationwide on Tuesday, requiring local governments to assign more workers to emergency response, tighten entry restrictions for forests and parks, and recommend that military units withhold live-fire exercises.

The 18 dead include four firefighters and government workers who were killed in Sancheong on Saturday after being trapped by fast-moving flames driven by strong winds, according to officials.

Government officials suspect human error caused several of the fires, possibly due to the use of fire while clearing overgrown grass in family tombs or sparks from welding work.