Strong winds escalate wildfire, firefighters mobilized

A helicopter flies over a fire in Yanggu, Gangwon on Monday afternoon as efforts to extinguish a blaze that began Sunday continued. [YONHAP]

Firefighters on Monday continued efforts to extinguish a wildfire that broke out in Yanggu, Gangwon, and spread north overnight.

According to the National Forest Service (NFS), 1,384 firefighters and 27 helicopters were mobilized at 6 a.m. on Monday to extinguish a blaze that started in the Songcheong-ri area in Yanggu at around 3:40 p.m. on Sunday.

According to the NFS, some 521 hectares (1,287 acres) of forest have already been burned by the blaze – an area roughly equivalent to 730 soccer fields.

The fire was reportedly started by a man in his 50s who was burning fallen leaves and lost control of the flames around 3:40 p.m.

Although firefighting efforts began as soon as the blaze was reported on Sunday, with 300 firefighters and 15 helicopters initially deployed that afternoon, winds as strong as over ten meters (32 feet) per second posed significant difficulties.

Authorities also said that dry weather conditions this past week and the thick zone of coniferous trees where the fire started fueled the blaze’s growth.

The NFS on Sunday issued an evacuation order to 188 residents of 94 households in Cheongu-ri and Yachon-ri villages in the area.

Some 50 residents near the origin of the blaze were evacuated to a nearby community center, but no casualties or damage to private houses was reported.

As darkness fell, NFS and local firefighting authorities deployed 393 firefighters specialized in combatting forest fires to establish fire breaks and minimize the spread of the blaze.

The Gangwon Provincial Fire Department also deployed 914 personnel and 84 fire trucks to four affected areas to focus on protecting residences. Although the fire spread to the outskirts of rural settlements in the Hwanggang-ri area, firefighters there prevented the flames from reaching 70 houses.

By 1 a.m. Monday, the fire spread to within 30 meters of the Bongan Temple in the Sang-ri area. Damage to temple buildings was averted by spraying water on the structures.

Lim Sang-seop, director of the Central Wildfire Prevention Headquarters of the NFS, said the agency plans to “mobilize all available land-based and airborne firefighting capabilities to extinguish the fire.”

Police said they will investigate the cause of the fire and conduct a thorough investigation at the scene.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]