Seoul, South Korea – Seoul, South Korea (AP) – The most destructive forest fires Upon arriving in South South, the authorities announced on Friday, after the rain and the coldest temperatures helped the crew of fires to put out the fires that have killed 28 people and raised vast stripes of earth since last week.
In a televised informative session, the head of the Korea Forest Service, Lim Sang-Seop, said that all the main fires in four of the most affected areas in the southeast have been completely contained.
The forest service website shows that efforts to extinguish forest fires remain in one place from Friday afternoon. The government’s disaster response team said previously that forest fires have been published in other sites.
“As we have completed work to contain main fires, we are becoming a system to deal with small fires,” said Lim. “There are still dangers of outbreaks of other forest fires, so we will not loosen our surveillance and make efforts to avoid them.”
The furious hellPromoted by windows and dry conditions, it has destroyed thousands of houses, factories, vehicles and other structures since last Friday, while the mountains and hills were stripped to a carpet of burning ashes. But the light rain that began on Thursday night and the subsequent cooler climate has helped fire fighting efforts.
“Hazos has decreased due to rain last night, so it is favorable to ensure visibility. Also temperatures are now lower than the last days, so things are very favorable to get forest fires,” Lim said in a previous informative session on Friday.
The authorities mobilized about 9,000 people, 125 helicopters and hundreds of other vehicles on Friday to fight forest fires.
Firefighters, many of the 60 years, a reflection of one of the fastest populations in the world, sailed forests in yellow helmets and red protective suits, spraying suppressors in flames that blinked near their feet. The helicopters threw cubes of water on hills that shone in red at night.
The residents struck into temporary shelters in places like schools and gyms, but the fire dragged dangerously close to some of them as well. A video shared by an evacuo shows fires that approach a school football field under a smoke -drowned sky.
“I kept crying this morning,” Seo Jae Tak, 79, said on Thursday in a gym in Andong City. “When I returned yesterday, the whole mountain had become ashes. It’s amazing, I can’t even express it. All I can do is cry.”
Forest fires They have burned 47,860 hectares (118,265 acres) of land, forced more than 30,000 people to flee their homes and wounded another 37 since last Friday. The authorities said Friday that 8,000 residents remained in temporary shelters.
While it is difficult to link any event with climate change, officials and experts say they are making forest fires more likely and more severe. Scientists have already warned that the atmosphere of heating worldwide is driving increasingly extreme climatic events, including forest fires, floods, droughts, hurricanes and heat waves that cause billions of dollars in damages every year.
“We must completely review our forest fire response strategy against extreme climatic conditions,” said Lee Cheol-Woo, governor of the province of Northern Gyeongsang.
Lee said last week has shown how forest fires can quickly overwhelm the country’s resources. He said he would request that the government establish better evacuation guidelines, adopt more powerful fire extinguishing tools that include airplanes equipped with water cannons and adopt other approaches to improve fire extinguishing efforts during night hours.
“We don’t have the team to fight fire at night,” said Lee. “At night, fire fighting is done only with manual efforts, but with the greatest density of our forests compared to the past, it is difficult to handle with that.”
The murdered people had most of the 60 years or more. They include a pilot whose helicopter crashed during efforts to contain a fire on Wednesday and four firefighters and other workers who died before after being trapped by flames quickly. Authorities say that older people found it difficult to evacuate quickly, but have not provided details of civilians.
In Uiseong, fires damaged around 20 of the 30 structures in The Gounsa temple complex, It is said that it was originally built in the seventh century. Among them were two “treasures” designated by the State: a pavilion with a view to a current dating from 1668, and a structure of the Joseon dynasty built in 1904 to mark the longevity of a king.
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Associated Press Video journalist Yong Jun Chang in Andong, South Korea, contributed to this report.
