Seoul — South Korea’s worst wildfires on record have scorched a massive swath of the country’s southeast over the past five days and killed at least 24 people, according to the national fire service. The combination of strong winds and dry weather has enabled the fires to spread frighteningly across the region.
As of Wednesday afternoon, an estimated 44,000 acres had been scorched according to Korea Forest Service, with at least 300 buildings destroyed and almost 30,000 people forced to evacuate from their homes, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.
In a televised address, South Korea‘s acting President Han Duck-soo said the wildfires that began last Friday were worse than many previous ones.
“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 over the rest of this week.”
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Han said crews struggled to extinguish the wildfires because strong winds swept the areas overnight. He also said about 4,650 firefighters, soldiers and other personnel were working Wednesday with the help of about 130 helicopters, adding that “a small amount” of rain was expected Thursday.
As of Wednesday evening, firefighters were tackling at least six active wildfires, including in the southeastern coastal town of Yeongdeok, which alerted residents of the nearest village to evacuate to an indoor gymnasium.
The 1,000-year-old Gowoonsa Buddhist temple was among the buildings lost to the fires.
“I was trying to evacuate people and preserve as many cultural heritages as possible, but the fire spread so quickly that even firefighters had to take refuge in a bathroom in an outside building,” the temple’s head monk told a local media outlet.
Strong winds and smoke-filled skies forced authorities in the southeastern city of Andong to order evacuations in two villages, including Puncheon, home to the Hahoe Folk Village, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Another heritage site, the Byeongsan Seowon Confucian Academy, was also at risk. Many of South Korea’s historic buildings are made of wood and clay, which is highly flammable.
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The blaze has also claimed the lives of farm animals and pets. People in rural South Korea often keep dogs tied up outside their homes for protection, and many were unable to bring their animals when they evacuated.
The South Korean charity WEACT told CBS News it had deployed teams to save some of the animals left behind, with at least 13 dogs rescued by Wednesday, all of which were taken for treatment due to severe burns and breathing difficulties from smoke inhalation.
“Every time I see the bodies of animals that have lost their lives in the fire, my heart breaks,” WEACT’s Annie Hyeongsun Ham told CBS News on Wednesday, adding that the organization remained “determined to keep calm and do our best to save at least one more life.”
contributed to this report.
