The Daegu Hamjisan wildfire was contained 23 hours after it ignited. This wildfire threatened nearby apartment complexes and residential areas, but there were no casualties.
According to forestry authorities, the main fire of the Hamjisan wildfire, which started at 12:55 p.m. on the 29th in Nogeok-dong, Buk-gu, Daegu, has been extinguished. The affected area from this wildfire has been reported as 260 hectares. The damage scale may increase after a thorough investigation.
This wildfire began around 2:01 p.m. on the 28th on Hamjisan. The fire spread rapidly due to strong winds, prompting the forestry authorities to issue a stage 3 response and deploy a large number of equipment and personnel, including firefighting helicopters. The Fire Department also issued a national fire mobilization order around 4:05 p.m. the previous day as the wildfire headed toward residential areas.
The previous day, maximum wind speeds reached 15 m/s, making firefighting difficult for forestry authorities. There were instances of flying embers due to the strong winds.
The smoke from the wildfire enveloped the nearby sky and was visible from downtown Daegu, located 6 to 7 kilometers away in a straight line. The Bukdaegu Interchange on the Gyeongbu Expressway, located south of Hamjisan, was closed to traffic in both directions from 4 p.m. the previous day until 6:30 a.m. on the day of the incident.
As the wildfire spread rapidly, residential areas in Joya-dong, located 1 to 2 kilometers from the ignition point, became threatened, and the Daegu Buk-gu sent disaster text messages urging residents in Joya-dong, Seobyun-dong, Dongbyeon-dong, and Gwam-dong to evacuate. At one point, more than 2,000 residents evacuated to nearby elementary and middle schools.
As of 8 p.m. the previous day, the extinguishing rate was only 19%, but forestry authorities deployed two Surion helicopters capable of nighttime flight to attempt nighttime firefighting. In addition to the helicopters, 1,515 personnel, including the special firefighting team for wildfire disaster response, and 398 pieces of equipment, including 15 high-performance wildfire firefighting vehicles, were deployed overnight.
By that morning, the average wind speed had dropped to below 1 m/s, and the winds calmed down. With the sunrise that morning, 53 firefighting helicopters, 1,551 personnel, and 204 pieces of equipment were sequentially deployed to the wildfire site in Nogeok-dong and Joya-dong in Buk-gu, starting the main firefighting efforts. The extinguishing rate rapidly increased from 60% at 4 a.m. to 65% at 6 a.m., 82% at 8 a.m., and 92% at 10 a.m.