The third day of the Gangwon and Gyeongbuk forest fires… Evolution 'difficult'

<Anchor>

This time, let's talk more about this wildfire with an expert.

Won Myeong-su, head of the Forest ICT Research Center of the National Academy of Forest Sciences. 

[Won Myeong-soo / Director of Forest ICT Research Center, National Academy of Forest Sciences: Currently, there are still 7 forest fires in progress.

Uljin, Gyeongbuk, and Okgye, Gangneung are the most problematic.

The current situation is that nuclear power plants and LNG production bases are currently safe.

In case of emergency, we are continuing to strengthen our surveillance now.

The problem now is that the western and southern sides of the Uljin area are a problem, but there are still long caustics.

In particular, there is a Geumgang Pine Conservation Area in Seogang-ri on the west side, but this area has a problem now, and is doing all it can, and now the forest fire has moved south to National Route 36.

So, it is a situation where we are responding to the full force by building a defense line in Uljin-eup.] 

[Won Myung-soo / Director of Forest ICT Research Center, National Academy of Forest Sciences: In the end, I think the wind is the problem now.

Initially, the strategy was to completely extinguish the fire before sunset, but in reality, it was a situation in which it was difficult for helicopters to approach due to strong winds and haze.

And now, as there are simultaneous wildfires occurring again in other areas such as Gangneung and Yeongwol, the helicopter situation and these things have been distributed and deployed, causing the fire to be delayed a bit.] 

[Won Myeong-soo / Director of Forest ICT Research Center, National Academy of Forest Sciences: In today's forecast, a high wind speed of 15 m/s is forecast.

A large forest fire danger warning is now in effect in the Yeongdong area of ​​Gangwon-do at 12 o'clock today.

The situation is very bad.

So, now the main fire extinguishing starts at sunrise, and it seems that the most intensive point today is to respond intensively in the morning.] 

[Won Myung-soo / Director of Forest ICT Research Center, National Academy of Forest Sciences: As I said briefly before, after all, it is now a national institution facility, a nuclear power plant, and an LNG production base.

And now that a lot of forest fires are approaching private areas and downtown areas, I think we should focus on Uljin-eup and natural heritage protection areas for the safety of residents.] 

[Won Myeong-soo / Director of Forest ICT Research Center, National Academy of Forest Sciences: The area has been increased considerably now.

In the case of the Uljin area, the damage area alone is about 11,700ha, so it is close to now.

About 204 houses have been burned down, and now 673 people are evacuated in 10 shelters.

Gangneung Okgye is not green right now.

The damage area has increased considerably now, but about 1,800ha has been damaged.] 

[Won Myung-soo / Director of Forest ICT Research Center, National Academy of Forest Sciences: Very strong winds can be the biggest factor.

And now, the Yeongdong area is an area where pines and conifers are mostly distributed.

So, when a forest fire occurs, the fire is very strong because it actually contains essential oil.

I'm talking about rosin.

Since the fire is strong and lasts for a long time, there are some difficulties in extinguishing the wildfire.

There is also the rugged terrain.

We are in a situation where it is very difficult to put in the evolution manpower.

And now, another one is working now for the reason that wildfire damage is rather large due to the effect of dispersing and distributing helicopters because a forest fire breaks out.] 

[Won Myung-soo / Director of Forest ICT Research Center, National Academy of Forest Sciences: We plan to deploy all available resources at the same time as sunrise.

Currently, 51 large fire fighting helicopters are deployed in the Uljin area.

First of all, the wind is expected to subside in the morning, so today's plan is to take full action at this time to extinguish the fire.]