Tag: wildfire

It looks like a perfect storm of events led to the massive wildfire in Gangwon province:

Authorities investigating the wildfires in Gangwon that started Thursday and burned at least 400 houses and 2 square miles of land suspect they began at three separate locations on Thursday.

The first spark came at around 2:45 p.m. on a hiking trail in Inje County. The fire spread quickly in strong winds with speeds up to 6.5 meters per second (14.5 miles per hour) and moved into residential areas. 

Around 95 residents in the area were evacuated. As firefighters fought the blaze near the residential areas, the fire burned through 30 hectares of forests before it was put out around noon on Saturday, according to the Korea Forest Service.

The cause of the spark on the hiking trail is being investigated.

“We have not ruled out the possibility of a fire caused by an accident,” said a police officer. 

The second spark in Gangwon on Thursday came at around 7:17 p.m. on an electric wire connected to a power switch at a gas station in Goseong County. 

The state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) said Friday that the fire seemed to have been sparked when “an alien substance” blown by the wind caught on an electric wire connected to a power switch. 

The fire that began from spark spread quickly due to the wind, blazing through 250 hectares of the county and Sokcho area before it was put out Friday afternoon. 

“We think it is likely that an alien substance, flying in strong winds, that hit the electric wire,” said Kim Chae-hyun, head of the Sokcho branch of Kepco. “Through this force, the wire could have been cut, causing the sparks to fly and catch fire in the vicinity.”

Authorities are investigating Kepco’s management of the electric poles and wires in the area.

In a similar case in the United States, Pacific Gas & Electric Company admitted that its equipment sparked the most destructive wildfire in California in November last year. The company filed for bankruptcy in January. 

The third spark in Gangwon on Thursday is suspected to have came around 11:46 p.m. in a small town in Gangneung. The fire blazed through Gangneung and Donghae, burning some 250 hectares of forests and land, before it was put out Friday afternoon. 

Police are investigating a temple in the town as the starting point of the fire. 

They found four altars at the temple, one of which was burned black, and candles on the altar. The temple is run by a man in his 80s who lives with his wife and daughter nearby.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

The good news is that one of the largest wildfires in South Korean history is now under control; the bad news is that one person lost their life and hundreds of homes and buildings were destroyed:

More than 400 homes and 920 livestock facilities were confirmed to have been burned in a devastating forest fire that raged through east coastal regions this past week, government data showed Sunday, as more damage has been discovered after the blaze was brought under control.
The fire, which started Thursday night in the county of Goseong, about 160 kilometers northeast of Seoul, spread quickly to neighboring cities and counties, reducing forests about 742 times the size of a soccer field to ashes.
One person was killed in the blaze, one of the biggest wildfires in South Korea.
According to the government’s anti-disaster office, the human casualties remain the same, but more property damage has been identified.
So far, a total of 401 homes, 925 livestock facilities, 77 warehouses and 100 buildings have been confirmed to have been burned. In addition, 241 agricultural machines and 15 cars were also lost in the fire, according to the office.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Apparently something blowing around in the wind made contact with a power switch to start the massive fire in Gangwon-do:

The state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) announced that the fire seemed to have been sparked by a power switch at a gas station in Goseong, just miles south of the border with North Korea. According to Kepco, “an alien substance” blown by the wind caught on an electric wire connected to a power switch, causing a spark, which grew into a fire. 

No further detail was given about the unidentified substance.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but shouldn’t there be better fire prevention measures around these power switches to where something blowing in the wind doesn’t start a fire?

This is a really pretty area of South Korea that is unfortunately being scorched by this large wildfires:

A series of fires wreaked havoc on eastern coastal cities in Gangwon Province, from Thursday night to Friday, killing one person and forcing more than 4,000 to be evacuated from their homes.

The government declared a national disaster Friday morning as the damage mounted up, especially around Goseong; and is also considering designating the affected regions natural disaster areas to provide better support. A state of disaster is proclaimed when there is an urgent need to deploy emergency measures to minimize casualties and damage in the event of a major catastrophe.


According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the fire in Goseong started by a roadside at around 7:17 p.m. Thursday, and spread quickly to neighboring areas, especially around Sokcho as strong winds fanned the flames.

Earlier in the afternoon, a separate fire broke out on one mountain in Inje, and another near Gangneung at about 11:50 p.m. that spread to Donghae.

A 60-year-old man died from the fire in Goseong, and another was seriously injured while more than 30 people have been treated for minor injuries.

About 130 houses, 11 warehouses and other buildings were destroyed in five towns and counties in the area, and more than 4,000 residents and tourists at holiday destinations in the province were evacuated, according to the authorities.

The Korea Forestry Service said about 250 hectares of forest was burnt down in Goseong alone, nearly the size of 735 soccer fields, as well as another 250 hectares in Gangneung and 25 hectares in Inje.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but it is horrible to see so many people lose their homes, hopefully no one loses their life due to this fire.

Mt. Surak is the large mountain that rises above Camp Stanley.  This fire though appears to be burning on the northern Seoul area of the mountain opposite from the camp:

A big fire broke out on Mount Surak in northern Seoul Thursday, firefighters said, with no casualties having been reported so far.

Firefighters said they were struggling to contain the fire that started at around 9:08 p.m., with a long ribbon of fire forming near the top of a ridge.

The exact cause of the wind-fed forest fire is not yet known, but the size of the blaze is quite large, they added.   [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The side of a mountain in Samcheok, 290 km east of Seoul, shows the burned scars of a man-made forest fire. (Yonhap)

It will be interesting to see if this fire was started intentionally to threaten the THAAD site in South Korea:

Another fire broke out late on Sunday near the site where the U.S. is installing the controversial anti-missile system called THAAD. It started at around 7:30 p.m. near the top of a mountain located closely to the golf course picked for the THAAD deployment in the country’s southern town of Seongju.

Firefighters are working to bring the fire under control but are having trouble in doing so due to darkness. The exact cause of the fire has not been confirmed yet.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

It has been a while since there has been a large wildfire in Gangwon-do, but it seems this is the area where they tend to happen the most at:

The Gangneung city government said more than 2,500 residents were ordered to flee Saturday as a wind-fed forest fire spread in the eastern city.

About 300 residents are known to have fled from their homes after the blaze started on a hill near Daegwallyeong, a mountain pass close to the east coast, at around 3:30 p.m., according to city officials.

A total of 30 private houses were damaged by the fire as of 10 p.m., but no casualties have been reported, they said.

The residents took shelter at nearby schools and other public facilities, officials said.

Traffic along some parts of a nearby expressway was temporarily restricted but returned to normal at 10 p.m.

About 2,700 people, including hundreds of firefighters, soldiers, police officers and government officials, have been dispatched to fight the fire, but they are struggling to extinguish it, the officials said.  [Yonhap]