South Korea wildfires ‘largest on record’: disaster chief
By AFP
March 26, 2025
Smoke rises from a wildfire in Andong early on March 27, 2025 - Copyright Brazilian Supreme Court/AFP Handout
Kang Jin-kyu
Wildfires in South Korea are now “the largest on record” having burned more forest than any previous blaze, the country’s disaster chief said Thursday, as the death toll rose to 26.
More than a dozen fires broke out over the weekend, scorching wide swathes of the southeast, forcing around 27,000 people to urgently evacuate, with the fire cutting off roads and downing communications lines as residents fled in panic.
“The wildfire is spreading rapidly,” said Lee Han-kyung, disaster and safety division chief.
“26 people have died, eight are seriously injured and 22 have been lightly injured,” he said.
“The forest damage has reached 35,810 hectares, already exceeding the area affected by the 2000 east coast wildfire, previously the largest on record, by more than 10,000 hectares.”
The extent of damage makes it South Korea’s largest ever wildfire, after the inferno in April 2000 that scorched 23,913 hectares across the east coast.
Authorities said changing wind patterns and dry weather had revealed the limitations of conventional firefighting methods.
Most of those killed were local residents, but at least three firefighters were killed, and a pilot in a firefighting helicopter died when his aircraft crashed in a mountain area, officials said.
Last year was South Korea’s hottest year on record, with the Korea Meteorological Administration saying that the average annual temperature was 14.5 degrees Celsius — two degrees higher than the preceding 30-year average of 12.5 degrees.
The fire-hit region had been experiencing unusually dry weather with below-average precipitation, authorities said, with the South experiencing more than double the number of fires this year than last.
Some types of extreme weather have a well-established link with climate change, such as heatwaves or heavy rainfall.
Other phenomena, such as forest fires, droughts, snowstorms and tropical storms can result from a combination of complex factors.
– ‘Climate crisis’ –
“This wildfire has once again exposed the harsh reality of a climate crisis unlike anything we’ve experienced before,” disaster chief Lee said.
“The affected areas have seen only half the average rainfall, coupled with unusually strong winds, which have drastically accelerated the spread of the fire and intensified the damage,” he said.
Expert Yeh Sang-Wook, professor of climatology at Seoul’s Hanyang University, told AFP that the lack of rainfall had dried out the land “creating favourable conditions for wildfires.”
“This can be seen as one of the fundamental causes,” he said.
“We can’t say that it’s only due to climate change, but climate change is directly (and) indirectly affecting the changes we are experiencing now. This is a sheer fact.”
The impact of South Korea’s demographic crisis was also on full display — the country is a so-called super aged society, with one of the world’s lowest birthrates.
“It is worrying that many of the victims are senior citizens, including patients at nursing hospitals,” Acting President Han Duck-soo said, as he ordered the country’s interior minister to relocate to the affected area to oversee relief efforts.
Rain is forecast for late Thursday, potentially giving authorities a much-needed window to extinguish the blazes.
Multiple historic sites, including two listed with UNESCO, were threatened by the fires, with South Korean heritage officials working with firefighters.
At UNESCO-listed Byungsan Suwon, a former Confucian academy, the sky was full of haze, AFP reporters saw, with fire trucks spraying water and fire-retardants onto the historic site in a desperate bit to save it.
“We are spraying three tonnes of water every day as a fire prevention measure across the premises, including the buildings,” Lee Seung-myung, head of fire safety team at Andong fire department told AFP.
“If a fire breaks out here, it is likely to be triggered by flames spreading from the pine trees, so we are now cutting them down near the site to prevent such a scenario,” Lee added.
‘Like the apocalypse’: S. Korea wildfires tear through mountains
By AFP
March 26, 2025
A wildfire is seen next to a stone lantern of a family tomb in Andong on March 26, 2025 - Copyright AFP YASUYOSHI CHIBA
Sue Han Kim with Hieun Shin in Seoul
Truck driver Lee Seung-joo was driving through South Korea’s Andong mountains when the wildfires hit, engulfing the area in flames and turning it into “a literal hell”.
“It was like the apocalypse,” the 39-year-old said, as he recalled seeing the fire tear through the area, which, even before the inferno struck, had been suffering from a particularly dry spell.
“The mountain burning looked like literal hell,” he added.
Tens of thousands of people in the southeast had to evacuate from the wildfires, which have been burning continuously for five days, fanned by high winds and fuelled by the super-dry conditions.
Sections of National Route 7, the main east coast highway, descended into chaos as the fires caught up with evacuees stuck in traffic jams, struggling to escape.
“Fireballs rained down like rain between the jammed vehicles, setting cars on fire,” one eyewitness told local media.
“Drivers barely escaped from the burning cars — it was utter chaos.”
Apple farmer Cho Jae-oak, 75, who fled from his property, told AFP that he also saw fireballs flying down from the mountain.
He and his wife had sprayed water to try and save their farm but were eventually forced to escape.
At least 24 people have been killed so far, some of whom died during the evacuation process, the Korea Forest Service said.
The country’s acting president, Han Duck-soo, said the multiple fires had caused “unprecedented damage” and warned it could still get worse.
The strong winds — plus a crash, killing a pilot — have forced authorities to suspend helicopter and drone operations to battle the blazes, which are straining conventional firefighting capacity, officials said.
– Evacuate! –
“Attention Hawmaeri residents. Please evacuate quickly!” yelled the village chief.
“The entire village is on fire, and your house will catch fire soon.”
A heart wrenching video circulating online and verified by AFP showed the village chief of Hawmaeri, home to around 46 households, urging residents to flee as the Uiseong fire barrelled towards their homes.
Most of the villagers escaped, but officials later confirmed that the village chief and his family were found dead on Tuesday, next to their burned-out car.
The car was heading the opposite direction from evacuees, local police told reporters.
Locals said the family had been “trying to rescue residents who might have been isolated”.
Most of the deaths were residents, but at least three firefighters were killed, and a helicopter pilot, who died when his aircraft crashed in a mountain area, officials said.
There are also reports of missing people, officials say, including one woman in her 80s who was suffering from dementia.
In addition to thousands of firefighters, backed up by soldiers and other emergency staff, rescue workers have been heading to the southeast to assist around 27,000 evacuees.
Animal rescue organisations have also rushed to the area, as many dogs in rural South Korea are kept tied up outside, with local media reporting that dozens of animals had died from smoke inhalation.
The groups reported finding dogs that survived, trembling in fear with severe burns.
– Shock and anger –
Inside an evacuation shelter in Andong, a quiet elementary school gym now filled with mostly elderly residents, the air was silent and heavy with shock.
South Korea’s demographic crisis — it is a super-aged society with the world’s lowest birth rate — was also on full display.
The average age in many villages exceeds 60, officials have said.
Most of the evacuees were elderly and AFP reporters saw medics handing out medicine to those who had fled too quickly to bring what they need to manage chronic illnesses.
Officials told reporters that most of the dead were in their sixties to seventies.
Many evacuees at the shelter voiced not only shock but frustration, saying their homes had been burned before fire fighters showed up.
The fire was reportedly started by someone tending an ancestral grave site, who then called emergency services saying they had accidentally triggered the conflagration.
“It’s not a problem who started the fire, but this entire region needs to cooperate with the country to put out this fire. We need to put out the fire quickly,” Park Sung-tae, farmer told AFP.
He said he was concerned that if the smoke blocked out the sunlight for too long, this year’s crop would be lost.
“It will make farming difficult,” he added.
By AFP
March 26, 2025
A wildfire is seen next to a stone lantern of a family tomb in Andong on March 26, 2025 - Copyright AFP YASUYOSHI CHIBA
Sue Han Kim with Hieun Shin in Seoul
Truck driver Lee Seung-joo was driving through South Korea’s Andong mountains when the wildfires hit, engulfing the area in flames and turning it into “a literal hell”.
“It was like the apocalypse,” the 39-year-old said, as he recalled seeing the fire tear through the area, which, even before the inferno struck, had been suffering from a particularly dry spell.
“The mountain burning looked like literal hell,” he added.
Tens of thousands of people in the southeast had to evacuate from the wildfires, which have been burning continuously for five days, fanned by high winds and fuelled by the super-dry conditions.
Sections of National Route 7, the main east coast highway, descended into chaos as the fires caught up with evacuees stuck in traffic jams, struggling to escape.
“Fireballs rained down like rain between the jammed vehicles, setting cars on fire,” one eyewitness told local media.
“Drivers barely escaped from the burning cars — it was utter chaos.”
Apple farmer Cho Jae-oak, 75, who fled from his property, told AFP that he also saw fireballs flying down from the mountain.
He and his wife had sprayed water to try and save their farm but were eventually forced to escape.
At least 24 people have been killed so far, some of whom died during the evacuation process, the Korea Forest Service said.
The country’s acting president, Han Duck-soo, said the multiple fires had caused “unprecedented damage” and warned it could still get worse.
The strong winds — plus a crash, killing a pilot — have forced authorities to suspend helicopter and drone operations to battle the blazes, which are straining conventional firefighting capacity, officials said.
– Evacuate! –
“Attention Hawmaeri residents. Please evacuate quickly!” yelled the village chief.
“The entire village is on fire, and your house will catch fire soon.”
A heart wrenching video circulating online and verified by AFP showed the village chief of Hawmaeri, home to around 46 households, urging residents to flee as the Uiseong fire barrelled towards their homes.
Most of the villagers escaped, but officials later confirmed that the village chief and his family were found dead on Tuesday, next to their burned-out car.
The car was heading the opposite direction from evacuees, local police told reporters.
Locals said the family had been “trying to rescue residents who might have been isolated”.
Most of the deaths were residents, but at least three firefighters were killed, and a helicopter pilot, who died when his aircraft crashed in a mountain area, officials said.
There are also reports of missing people, officials say, including one woman in her 80s who was suffering from dementia.
In addition to thousands of firefighters, backed up by soldiers and other emergency staff, rescue workers have been heading to the southeast to assist around 27,000 evacuees.
Animal rescue organisations have also rushed to the area, as many dogs in rural South Korea are kept tied up outside, with local media reporting that dozens of animals had died from smoke inhalation.
The groups reported finding dogs that survived, trembling in fear with severe burns.
– Shock and anger –
Inside an evacuation shelter in Andong, a quiet elementary school gym now filled with mostly elderly residents, the air was silent and heavy with shock.
South Korea’s demographic crisis — it is a super-aged society with the world’s lowest birth rate — was also on full display.
The average age in many villages exceeds 60, officials have said.
Most of the evacuees were elderly and AFP reporters saw medics handing out medicine to those who had fled too quickly to bring what they need to manage chronic illnesses.
Officials told reporters that most of the dead were in their sixties to seventies.
Many evacuees at the shelter voiced not only shock but frustration, saying their homes had been burned before fire fighters showed up.
The fire was reportedly started by someone tending an ancestral grave site, who then called emergency services saying they had accidentally triggered the conflagration.
“It’s not a problem who started the fire, but this entire region needs to cooperate with the country to put out this fire. We need to put out the fire quickly,” Park Sung-tae, farmer told AFP.
He said he was concerned that if the smoke blocked out the sunlight for too long, this year’s crop would be lost.
“It will make farming difficult,” he added.
Workers save Buddha as S. Korea’s wildfires raze ancient temple
By AFP
March 26, 2025
Wildfires in South Korea have claimed 24 lives and destroyed thousands of hectares of forests - Copyright AFP YASUYOSHI CHIBA
Sue Han Kim with Hailey Jo in Seoul
At South Korea’s thousand-year-old Gounsa Temple, workers delicately swaddled a giant gilded Buddha statue with a fire-retardant blanket.
Hours later much of the temple burned down in one of the deadliest wildfires to hit South Korea — but the Buddha and the wooden hall it was in survived.
All across the country’s southeast, officials are racing to relocate priceless historic artifacts and protect UNESCO-listed sites from the blazes, which have killed 24 people and destroyed thousands of hectares of forest.
In the UNESCO-listed Hahoe village — a popular tourist site once visited by England’s late Queen Elizabeth II — fire fighters and cultural heritage officials have been spraying water and fire retardants onto the thatched buildings, hoping they would be spared from the flames.
“It is very heartbreaking and painful to see the precious temples that are over a thousand years old being lost,” Deung-woon, a 65-year-old monk told AFP.
When 68-year-old monk Joung-ou heard that the Gounsa temple had burned down in wildfires which have killed 24 people so far, he said he felt “so devastated that I couldn’t come to my senses.”
“It was an extremely painful feeling, and I wondered why something like this could happen,” he said.
AFP reporters who returned to the temple after the blaze found the north side of the building razed to charred rubble, with broken tablets scattered on the ground.
The giant Buddha at the centre of the building survived.
A heavy bell that once hung on an ancient wooden structure nearby sat cracked on top of the debris.
“We will do our best to restore the function of the temple,” monk Joung-ou vowed.
– ‘Inherently vulnerable’ –
One issue facing officials is that many of the cultural heritage sites in the area, including the UNESCO-listed Hahoe village are “inherently vulnerable to fires,” one expert told AFP.
Hahoe, which dates to the 14th or 15th century, is described by UNESCO as a “representative historic clan village”.
The late Queen Elizabeth II visited in 1999 during her four-day visit to South Korea and was honoured with a banquet marking her 73rd birthday — although the aristocratic village chief refused to allow the queen into his living room, which was for men only.
The village’s layout and location — “sheltered by forested mountains and facing out onto a river and open agricultural fields” is said by UNESCO to “reflect the distinctive aristocratic Confucian culture of the early part of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910)”.
But it is precisely this location that makes the site vulnerable, said Lee Sang-hyun, professor of Cultural Heritage Studies at Gyeongkuk National University.
“It is difficult to devise preservation measures when a wildfire breaks out,” he said.
“The wildfire poses a significant threat to the preservation of these cultural treasures. The predominant use of wood in these structures makes them even more susceptible to fires,” he added.
“This is an unprecedented crisis. I am over 60 years old, but I have never seen a fire of this magnitude before,” he said.
– ‘Impossible to predict’ –
As the flames drew closer to Hahoe, AFP reporters at the scene saw huge chunks of ash floating in the air, as fire trucks sprayed water and fire retardants onto the thatched roof houses and buildings.
Thick wildfire-induced fog and the smell of burning filled the air, with police barring entry to all except fire control officials. The area — which typically draws more than one million visitors annually — was eerily deserted.
Nearby Byeongsan Seowon is also a UNESCO site, and a Korea Heritage Service official told AFP that saving the two locations were a top priority for officials.
“It is impossible to predict the current situation due to wind and changes in other conditions, but there is currently no damage to Hahoe Village,” they said.
“As a countermeasure, we have used sprinkler trucks to soak the surfaces of the structures there with a lot of water.”
Byun Ji-hyun, senior programme specialist at UNESCO, told AFP that “if Hahoe village were to be destroyed by fire, its value as a world heritage site could be significantly compromised.
“That is why everyone is working together to prevent such an event. We believe that such an event will not occur.”
In addition to scores of firefighters, the Korea Heritage Service has deployed 750 people to move and urgently care for the ancient treasures, including relocating them, or if not possible trying to equip them to survive the blaze.
So far, the service said at least 15 items considered important national heritage have been damaged and two designated “national treasures” had been completely destroyed.
“We have a number of personnel at the wildfire sites and they will continue to help move and protect national heritages,” an official from the Korea Heritage Service told AFP.
Hundreds of items have been moved to safety, including books and other items in the Bongjeongsa Temple in Andong.
The agency has “conducted on-site inspections to assess whether national heritage sites are at risk,” it said in a statement.
“Urgent relocation of cultural assets held by temples and other institutions is underway,” they said adding that they are “mobilising all available personnel from the Cultural Heritage Administration and its affiliated agencies to respond”.
By AFP
March 26, 2025
Wildfires in South Korea have claimed 24 lives and destroyed thousands of hectares of forests - Copyright AFP YASUYOSHI CHIBA
Sue Han Kim with Hailey Jo in Seoul
At South Korea’s thousand-year-old Gounsa Temple, workers delicately swaddled a giant gilded Buddha statue with a fire-retardant blanket.
Hours later much of the temple burned down in one of the deadliest wildfires to hit South Korea — but the Buddha and the wooden hall it was in survived.
All across the country’s southeast, officials are racing to relocate priceless historic artifacts and protect UNESCO-listed sites from the blazes, which have killed 24 people and destroyed thousands of hectares of forest.
In the UNESCO-listed Hahoe village — a popular tourist site once visited by England’s late Queen Elizabeth II — fire fighters and cultural heritage officials have been spraying water and fire retardants onto the thatched buildings, hoping they would be spared from the flames.
“It is very heartbreaking and painful to see the precious temples that are over a thousand years old being lost,” Deung-woon, a 65-year-old monk told AFP.
When 68-year-old monk Joung-ou heard that the Gounsa temple had burned down in wildfires which have killed 24 people so far, he said he felt “so devastated that I couldn’t come to my senses.”
“It was an extremely painful feeling, and I wondered why something like this could happen,” he said.
AFP reporters who returned to the temple after the blaze found the north side of the building razed to charred rubble, with broken tablets scattered on the ground.
The giant Buddha at the centre of the building survived.
A heavy bell that once hung on an ancient wooden structure nearby sat cracked on top of the debris.
“We will do our best to restore the function of the temple,” monk Joung-ou vowed.
– ‘Inherently vulnerable’ –
One issue facing officials is that many of the cultural heritage sites in the area, including the UNESCO-listed Hahoe village are “inherently vulnerable to fires,” one expert told AFP.
Hahoe, which dates to the 14th or 15th century, is described by UNESCO as a “representative historic clan village”.
The late Queen Elizabeth II visited in 1999 during her four-day visit to South Korea and was honoured with a banquet marking her 73rd birthday — although the aristocratic village chief refused to allow the queen into his living room, which was for men only.
The village’s layout and location — “sheltered by forested mountains and facing out onto a river and open agricultural fields” is said by UNESCO to “reflect the distinctive aristocratic Confucian culture of the early part of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910)”.
But it is precisely this location that makes the site vulnerable, said Lee Sang-hyun, professor of Cultural Heritage Studies at Gyeongkuk National University.
“It is difficult to devise preservation measures when a wildfire breaks out,” he said.
“The wildfire poses a significant threat to the preservation of these cultural treasures. The predominant use of wood in these structures makes them even more susceptible to fires,” he added.
“This is an unprecedented crisis. I am over 60 years old, but I have never seen a fire of this magnitude before,” he said.
– ‘Impossible to predict’ –
As the flames drew closer to Hahoe, AFP reporters at the scene saw huge chunks of ash floating in the air, as fire trucks sprayed water and fire retardants onto the thatched roof houses and buildings.
Thick wildfire-induced fog and the smell of burning filled the air, with police barring entry to all except fire control officials. The area — which typically draws more than one million visitors annually — was eerily deserted.
Nearby Byeongsan Seowon is also a UNESCO site, and a Korea Heritage Service official told AFP that saving the two locations were a top priority for officials.
“It is impossible to predict the current situation due to wind and changes in other conditions, but there is currently no damage to Hahoe Village,” they said.
“As a countermeasure, we have used sprinkler trucks to soak the surfaces of the structures there with a lot of water.”
Byun Ji-hyun, senior programme specialist at UNESCO, told AFP that “if Hahoe village were to be destroyed by fire, its value as a world heritage site could be significantly compromised.
“That is why everyone is working together to prevent such an event. We believe that such an event will not occur.”
In addition to scores of firefighters, the Korea Heritage Service has deployed 750 people to move and urgently care for the ancient treasures, including relocating them, or if not possible trying to equip them to survive the blaze.
So far, the service said at least 15 items considered important national heritage have been damaged and two designated “national treasures” had been completely destroyed.
“We have a number of personnel at the wildfire sites and they will continue to help move and protect national heritages,” an official from the Korea Heritage Service told AFP.
Hundreds of items have been moved to safety, including books and other items in the Bongjeongsa Temple in Andong.
The agency has “conducted on-site inspections to assess whether national heritage sites are at risk,” it said in a statement.
“Urgent relocation of cultural assets held by temples and other institutions is underway,” they said adding that they are “mobilising all available personnel from the Cultural Heritage Administration and its affiliated agencies to respond”.
South Korea says 18 dead in raging wildfires
By AFP
March 25, 2025
A helicopter drops water as a wildfire advances towards Gounsa Temple in Uiseong - Copyright AFP/File ANGELA WEISS
At least 18 people have been killed in one of South Korea’s worst wildfire outbreaks, with multiple blazes burning and causing “unprecedented damage”, the acting president said Wednesday.
More than a dozen different blazes broke out over the weekend, with the death toll jumping overnight as one major fire tore through villages and burned a historical temple to the ground.
The government has raised the crisis alert to its highest level and declared a “a full-scale national response” to bring the fires under control.
“Eighteen people died in the wildfires,” a ministry of safety official told AFP.
“Additionally, six people were seriously injured and 13 suffered minor injuries.”
Dry, windy weather has hampered efforts to contain the fires, with the government taking the rare step of evacuating thousands of prisoners out of detention centres in affected counties.
On Tuesday, authorities issued an emergency alert for Hahoe Folk Village — a UNESCO-listed world heritage site popular with tourists — as the blaze drew closer.
“Wildfires burning for a fifth-consecutive day in Ulsan and the Gyeongsang region are causing unprecedented damage,” South Korea’s acting president Han Duck-soo said.
He told an emergency safety and disaster meeting that the blazes were “developing in a way that is exceeding both existing prediction models and earlier expectations.”
Authorities launched emergency evacuations Tuesday afternoon “but sadly, casualties could not be prevented,” he said.
“Throughout the night, chaos continued as power and communication lines were cut in several areas and roads were blocked,” he added.
Thousands of firefighters have been deployed, but “strong winds reaching speeds of 25 metres per second persisted from yesterday afternoon through the night, forcing the suspension of helicopter and drone operations,” Han said.
“Constantly shifting wind directions and ongoing dry weather advisories have revealed the limitations of conventional firefighting methods,” he added.
Han said the government has launched a “full-scale national response”.
– ‘Fire came from the mountain’ –
Evacuees sheltering in the gym of Sinsung elementary school told AFP that the fire had hit their villages so quickly they did not have time to take anything with them as they fled.
“The wind was so strong,” Kwon So-han, a 79-year-old resident in Andong told AFP, adding that as soon as he got the evacuation order he fled.
“The fire came from the mountain and fell on my house,” he said.
“Those who haven’t experienced it won’t know. I could only bring my body.”
Han said more people were being moved to temporary shelters and the government was working to provide emergency relief and financial support to those displaced by the fires.
Rain is forecast for late Wednesday, with authorities hoping to capitalise on even a light sprinkling to help extinguish the fires.
Some types of extreme weather have a well-established link with climate change, such as heatwaves or heavy rainfall.
Other phenomena, such as forest fires, droughts, snowstorms and tropical storms can result from a combination of complex factors.
The fire in Uiseong was reportedly caused by a person who was tending to a family grave site and accidentally ignited the blaze.
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By AFP
March 25, 2025
A helicopter drops water as a wildfire advances towards Gounsa Temple in Uiseong - Copyright AFP/File ANGELA WEISS
At least 18 people have been killed in one of South Korea’s worst wildfire outbreaks, with multiple blazes burning and causing “unprecedented damage”, the acting president said Wednesday.
More than a dozen different blazes broke out over the weekend, with the death toll jumping overnight as one major fire tore through villages and burned a historical temple to the ground.
The government has raised the crisis alert to its highest level and declared a “a full-scale national response” to bring the fires under control.
“Eighteen people died in the wildfires,” a ministry of safety official told AFP.
“Additionally, six people were seriously injured and 13 suffered minor injuries.”
Dry, windy weather has hampered efforts to contain the fires, with the government taking the rare step of evacuating thousands of prisoners out of detention centres in affected counties.
On Tuesday, authorities issued an emergency alert for Hahoe Folk Village — a UNESCO-listed world heritage site popular with tourists — as the blaze drew closer.
“Wildfires burning for a fifth-consecutive day in Ulsan and the Gyeongsang region are causing unprecedented damage,” South Korea’s acting president Han Duck-soo said.
He told an emergency safety and disaster meeting that the blazes were “developing in a way that is exceeding both existing prediction models and earlier expectations.”
Authorities launched emergency evacuations Tuesday afternoon “but sadly, casualties could not be prevented,” he said.
“Throughout the night, chaos continued as power and communication lines were cut in several areas and roads were blocked,” he added.
Thousands of firefighters have been deployed, but “strong winds reaching speeds of 25 metres per second persisted from yesterday afternoon through the night, forcing the suspension of helicopter and drone operations,” Han said.
“Constantly shifting wind directions and ongoing dry weather advisories have revealed the limitations of conventional firefighting methods,” he added.
Han said the government has launched a “full-scale national response”.
– ‘Fire came from the mountain’ –
Evacuees sheltering in the gym of Sinsung elementary school told AFP that the fire had hit their villages so quickly they did not have time to take anything with them as they fled.
“The wind was so strong,” Kwon So-han, a 79-year-old resident in Andong told AFP, adding that as soon as he got the evacuation order he fled.
“The fire came from the mountain and fell on my house,” he said.
“Those who haven’t experienced it won’t know. I could only bring my body.”
Han said more people were being moved to temporary shelters and the government was working to provide emergency relief and financial support to those displaced by the fires.
Rain is forecast for late Wednesday, with authorities hoping to capitalise on even a light sprinkling to help extinguish the fires.
Some types of extreme weather have a well-established link with climate change, such as heatwaves or heavy rainfall.
Other phenomena, such as forest fires, droughts, snowstorms and tropical storms can result from a combination of complex factors.
The fire in Uiseong was reportedly caused by a person who was tending to a family grave site and accidentally ignited the blaze.
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