Winds-powered wildfires have wreaked havoc on South Korea’s southern regions, claiming the lives of at least 19 individuals and reducing over 200 structures to ashes. The blazes have also led to the evacuation of 27,000 people to safer grounds. Among the victims was a helicopter pilot whose aircraft crashed on Wednesday while he attempted to quench the fires raging in Uiseong, a severely affected area.

The wildfires, which originated last Friday, have engulfed 43,330 acres (17,535 hectares) of land, obliterating an ancient Buddhist temple with a long history alongside homes, factories, vehicles, and other properties. To date, the fires have injured 19 people as sanctioned by the government’s emergency response centre.

Onlookers rate the ongoing wildfires as the third-largest in South Korea’s record, based on the extent of land engulfed. In a bid to check the raging flames and mitigate the spread, evacuations in several southeastern towns and cities were ordered on Tuesday.

Despite their best efforts, firefighters were overwhelmed by multiple blazes ignited and intensified by dry winds. Andong, neighbouring Uiseong and Sancheong counties, and the city of Ulsan bore the brunt of the wildfires, according to the South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior.

In Uiseong and Cheongsong, other southern towns, the blaze turned the formula of the Gounsa temple – older by centuries into ashes. Two additional state-recognized treasured structures, erected in the years 1668 and 1904, were damaged. The regional Ministry of Justice shifted 500 inmates from Cheongsong detention centre to safer grounds as a precautionary step.

On Tuesday, the forest service escalated the wildfire alert nationwide to the gravest level, “serious.” Local authorities were directed to intensify personnel for hippocampus interventions, enforce forest and park access restrictions, and advocate for a halt to military exercises involving live-fire.

Four firefighters and government officials succumbed to the Sancheong blaze on Saturday after getting caught in fast-forwarding flames aided by strong gusts. Government sources suspect that human negligence is behind most of the fires, assigning plausible causes like grassburning in family graves or sparks emanating from welding equipment.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2025/3/26/wildfires-kill-19-and-displace-thousands-in-south-korea?traffic_source=rss