<Anchor>

A fire broke out yesterday (26th), a holiday in Manisan, Ganghwa Province, Incheon, and a large fire was extinguished only this morning, 17 hours later. The problem is that these wildfires are becoming more frequent in our country, and the area affected is increasing. In line with climate change, we focused on the actual situation and reasons for the increase in wildfires than before.

Reporter Jang Sun-yi and reporter Hong Seung-yeon will tell you in turn.

<Reporter>

I am in a mountain in Hapcheon, Gyeongsangnam.

A large forest fire broke out here on Jan. 8, forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate and burning 230 football fields of forest.

The first Stage 3 wildfire of the year was issued and extinguished in 20 hours.

But even now, there are traces of the fire everywhere, and the pungent smell still my nose.

Restoration of forests is prohibitive, and villagers are always anxious about wildfires that have been extinguished and come back to life.

[Lee Han-su/Villager: I was most worried that there would be a fire in that village. The village itself is a neighborhood attached to the mountains, and if the wind had blown in that direction, the village would have become a fire zone...] [Park Sun-deok/Villager: Oh, if this happened at night, it would be a big deal. If it came out at night, how would you put it out? I couldn't put it out....]



Wildfires, becoming more frequent every year, and growing in size.

Last year, there were 756 forest fires, burning more than 40,2 hectares, or 4% of Seoul's area.

That's seven times the average of the last 10 years.

This year, the situation is more serious.

From January to the last 7 days, there have been 1 wildfires, an average of four per day.

That's more than the same period last year, the second-highest number of wildfires on record, and 22 percent more than the 331-year average for the same period.

In addition, due to climate change, forest fires, which have been mainly concentrated in March ~ April for the past 4 years, have recently expanded from February to May, and there are voices that it is necessary to reformulate forest fire response strategies.

(Video Interview: Cho Chang-hyun, Video Editor: Choi Hye-ran, CG: Choi Jae-young)

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<Reporter Hong Seung-yeon>
White smoke billows from the
mountainside.

I went to the smoke area with the enforcement team.



Enlarge the image


A monk burns garbage and hurriedly pours water on it.

[You really shouldn't start a fire in this kind of thing. (It's not me, it's the (other) bodhisattva....)]

[Jeon Myung-young/Yangsan National Forest Management Station Mechanized Fire Extinguishing Team: (The fire) can scatter and move to the back (mountain). It's quite dangerous. It should never be.]

Another nearby village, piles of agricultural garbage are left piled up everywhere.

[Term Member/Forest Fire Prevention and Extinguishing Crew: (This stuff) doesn't rot well. Now (the farmers) are incinerating it. They burn it with confidence, but when the wind blows, they fly here (into the mountains). Embers.]

Wildfire wardens are roaming villages around the mountain to carry out prayer activities,

but nearly
10 out of 3
wildfires are caused by burning garbage and paddy fields.

This was followed by true stories of tenants, cigarette fires, etc., and about half of them are true stories caused by human carelessness.

The mountain is populated by an unspecified number of people, most of them have no CCTV, and direct evidence of wildfires is often difficult to find, making it difficult to identify the true narrator.

[Seo Min-seok/Yangsan National Forest Management Center Forest Fire Director: They often sneak up on them at night.]

Climate change is also increasing the risk of wildfires.

In dry weather, leaf moisture content has dropped below 10% in most parts of the country, burning twice as fast as when it is 35%.

In addition, strong winds lead to large forest fires.

Due to the mountainous nature of Korea, when the wind blows at 6 meters per second, it spreads 20 times faster than without the wind.

[Dr. Kwon Chun-keun/National Academy of Forest Sciences: When the flames lie down, the distance between radiant heat and conduction heat transmitted in front of them increases. In doing so, the fuel in front of us is heated in advance. That's why it spreads so fast.]

The number of wildfire days per year, up from just 90 in the '112s, increased to 198 last year as dry days increased.

In addition, an average temperature increase of 1.5 degrees is predicted to increase the risk of wildfires by 8.6%, and a 2 degree increase would increase the risk of wildfires by 13.5%.

[Dr. Kwon Chun-keun/National Academy of Forest Sciences: Since it is dry in all seasons, there are conditions that can easily stick and spread easily when humans act, and this phenomenon is expected to intensify in the future.]

The Forest Service has decided to install additional CCTV cameras to monitor forest fires on key roads in areas prone to wildfires, and to further strengthen forest fire monitoring and prevention activities in rural areas.

The spring wildfire special response period, which ends on the 30th of next month, will also be flexibly adjusted in consideration of local characteristics and climate change factors.

(Video Interview: Jung Kyung-moon and Heo Chun, Video Editor: Lee So-young, VJ: Ahn Min-shin, Screen credit: National Academy of Forest Sciences)