The government announced measures to prevent and respond to large forest fires during the spring. The Korea Forest Service plans to implement entry regulations, expand the crushing of agricultural by-products, and strengthen fire monitoring systems to block the causes of forest fires in advance and minimize damage.
On the 12th, the Korea Forest Service announced the '2025 spring large forest fire preparedness and response plan' during a meeting of the ministers related to national agenda and economic relations, as well as the ministerial meeting for strengthening industrial competitiveness. This plan will be implemented intensively during the spring, when the risk of forest fires is high.
The government will expand entry regulations and the closure of hiking trails to block the main causes of forest fires. They will close 1.82 million hectares (ha), which corresponds to 29% of the forests nationwide, and 7,598 km of hiking trails, providing this information in real-time through national information platforms such as Naver Maps.
To prevent forest fires caused by the incineration of agricultural by-products, the volume of crushing will also be increased. Agricultural by-products refer to the stems, leaves, peels, and other remains left after farming, and incinerating these is considered one of the main causes of forest fires. The government has set the crushing volume of agricultural by-products at 201,000 tons this year, a 21% increase compared to the previous year, and plans to focus on this in the first quarter to maximize the effect of fire prevention.
The careless use of firewood boilers in areas adjacent to forests will also be closely monitored. Using fire prevention personnel, they will check the management of flammable materials around the boilers, chimney maintenance, and the status of fire extinguisher placement, and will strengthen facility support, including the distribution of reprocessing containers and the installation of sprinklers.
A 'special countermeasure period for large forest fires' will also be implemented in preparation for large forest fires and simultaneous forest fires. The special countermeasure period will be set based on the current status of forest fire occurrences and weather conditions, and the situation room manager will be promoted to the forest disaster control officer. They will strengthen response readiness with measures such as mobilizing civil servant holiday patrols, deploying helicopters to the front lines, and expanding helicopter support from affiliated organizations.
The forest fire monitoring system will also be significantly strengthened. They will install 100 unmanned fire monitoring cameras utilizing transmission towers. Additionally, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based forest fire prevention ICT platform will be developed to enable rapid detection and response in case of forest fires. By the end of this year, there are plans to achieve the consolidation of 1,500 CCTV units through this platform.
Human and material resources for forest fire response will also be expanded. The government will increase the personnel for forest fire prevention and extinguishing to 53,000 and deploy 1,853 fire-fighting vehicles and 198 helicopters. In particular, to ensure a quick response in the event of a large forest fire, central and regional forest fire prevention headquarters (a total of 278 nationwide) will be operated, and a 24-hour emergency work system will be activated.
A Korea Forest Service official noted, 'We will regularly report on the causes of forest fire occurrences, the apprehension and punishment of offenders, etc., to raise public awareness and improve consciousness regarding forest fires.'