A wildfire that erupted on the 28th at Hamjisan in Buk-gu, Daegu, continues to be extinguished on the second day. The extinguishment rate has surpassed 90%.
According to the Central Accident Management Headquarters of the Korea Forest Service, as of 10 a.m. on the 29th, the extinguishment rate for the wildfire in the Nogeok-dong area of Buk-gu was recorded at 92%. The affected area is 260 hectares, with the remaining fire line measured at 0.9 kilometers out of a total fire line of 11 kilometers. Currently, there have been no confirmed casualties.
As of 6 a.m. that day, the extinguishment rate was 65%, a 27 percentage point increase in just four hours. In the morning, the average wind speed was weak at 1 to 4 m/s, creating favorable conditions for extinguishment.
Forest authorities deployed 53 helicopters, 1,551 personnel, and 205 pieces of equipment to the fire site in Nogeok-dong and Joyang-dong to extinguish the wildfire as soon as the sun rose. Im Ha-soo, acting Deputy Minister of the Southern Regional Forest Service, stated at a briefing held at Joyang branch of Seobyeon Elementary School at 9 a.m. that "The goal is to extinguish the main fire today."
Kim Jeong-gi, the acting mayor of Daegu and commander of the integrated command center at the wildfire site, noted, "Fortunately, the wildfire did not spread to the dwellings," adding that "There seems to be no damage to any dwellings." He also mentioned, "We focused on deploying firefighting helicopters to the area near Mang-ilbong, where the fire intensity is strong, and we are applying fire retardants to the residential areas."
The cause of the wildfire has not yet been determined. According to forest authorities, the initial ignition point of the wildfire was not a hiking trail but an area where entry was restricted. The city of Daegu issued an emergency administrative order to restrict access to major mountains on the 1st. The first person to report the wildfire was a farmer who lived significantly far from the ignition point. Forest authorities do not consider the possibility of natural ignition to be high.