Wildfires ravage southern South Korea, killing 18 people

Wind-driven wildfires — among South Korea's worst ever — were ravaging the country's southern regions, killing 18 people, destroying more than 200 structures and forcing 27,000 people to evacuate, officials said today.

Officials also said a helicopter crashed during efforts to contain wildfires in the southeastern town of Uiseong, one of the areas hardest-hit by the wildfires. The Korea Forest Service said rescue efforts were underway and it was presumed that the aircraft was operated by one pilot with no crew members.

An ancient Buddhist temple, houses, factories and vehicles were among the structures destroyed in the wildfires that have burned 43,330 acres and injured 19 people, the government’s emergency response centre said.

In a televised address, South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo said the wildfires that began last Friday were causing worse damage than many other past wildfires.

"Damages are snowballing," Han said. "There are concerns that we’ll have wildfire damages that we’ve never experienced, so we have to concentrate all our capabilities to put out the wildfires in the rest of this week."

Han said crews were struggling to extinguish the wildfires because strong winds swept the areas overnight. Han said about 4650 firefighters, soldiers and other personnel were working Wednesday to extinguish the wildfires with the help of about 130 helicopters. He said that "a small amount" of 5mm-10mm of rain was expected tomorrow.

Observers said the ongoing wildfires were the third biggest in South Korea in terms of land burned.

Officials in several southeastern cities and towns had ordered residents to evacuate yesterday as firefighters struggled to contain multiple blazes fueled by dry winds. The largest fires were in Andong, the neighbouring counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, and the city of Ulsan, according to South Korea's Interior Ministry.

Earlier yesterday, officials had said firefighters had extinguished most of the flames from the largest wildfires in those areas, but wind and dry conditions allowed the blazes to spread again. But efforts to fight the fires were partially suspended overnight as the winds strengthened.

The blaze in Uiseong destroyed nearly half of more than 30 structures at Gounsa, a temple which was said to be originally built in the 7th century. Among the destroyed structures were two state-designated "treasures" — a pavilion-shaped structure built on a stream in 1668 and a Joseon Dynasty structure built in 1904 to mark the longevity of a king.

The temple’s other state-designated "treasure", a stone Buddha statue reportedly manufactured in the 8th century, was evacuated to a safe place, according to government and Buddhist officials.

The Justice Ministry said it protectively removed 500 inmates from a detention centre in Cheongsong, another southern town, but no damages were reported to the facility.

The Korea Forest Service said it had raised its wildfire warning to the highest "serious" level nationwide yesterday, requiring local governments to assign more workers to emergency response, tighten entry restrictions for forests and parks, and recommended that military units withheld live-fire exercises.

The 18 dead include four firefighters and government workers who were killed in Sancheong on Saturday after being trapped by fast-moving flames driven by strong winds, according to officials.

Government officials suspected human error caused several of the fires, possibly due to the use of fire while clearing overgrown grass in family tombs or sparks from welding work.