Wildfires ravaging South Korea over the past week have killed at least 24 people, making it the country’s worst forest fire disaster in about three decades, as firefighters struggled to contain multiple blazes that have broken out in the country’s south.
Fires that started in the southern county of Sancheong on Friday have spread to at least five other regions in southern Gyeongsang province, burning more than 17,000 hectares of land and forcing 27,000 people to evacuate, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said Wednesday.
South Korea’s worst wildfires were recorded in 1989, which killed 26 people, followed by fires in 1995 that killed 25, according to Yonhap News.
“We need to mobilize all available resources in extinguishing the fires for the remainder of the week as it is feared we will experience an unprecedented level of wildfire damage,” Acting President Han Duck-soo said in a national address. “They are breaking records as the worst-ever forest fires.”
The Korea Forest Service raised the national crisis alert to the highest level Tuesday as the blazes ravaged an ancient temple and threatened to destroy a UNESCO-listed cultural heritage site. Some 500 inmates incarcerated at a nearby prison were evacuated to escape the fires, the Justice Ministry said.
The fires pose a major leadership test for Han, who returned to office just two days ago after a court ruling reversed his suspension from duties in the aftermath of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law fiasco.
South Korea has deployed thousands of personnel to bring the blazes under control but the firefighting efforts have been hampered by high winds and dry conditions, Han said. Rain was not forecast in the Gyeongsang province until Thursday.
