Year after year, wildfires return — and still no real solutions

A wildfire in Uiseong County in North Gyeongsang spread across mountain ridges on March 23, the second day since the blaze began. [YONHAP]

 
A series of wildfires across South and North Gyeongsang has claimed four lives and scorched approximately 3,300 hectares of forest. Among the victims were three wildfire suppression personnel in their 60s and a public official in his 30s who was leading them; they were trapped and killed in the flames. Five others who had been deployed with them narrowly survived by huddling together in a sunken pit, enduring a barrage of firestorms in a state of desperation. The terror of springtime wildfires, driven by strong winds, is once again all too real.
 

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The fires broke out on March 21 in Sancheong County, South Gyeongsang, and the following day in Uiseong County, North Gyeongsang, as well as in Ulju County in Ulsan and the city of Gimhae. Together, they burned an area equivalent to more than 4,600 football fields. The government activated Level 3 wildfire response protocols in the most severely affected regions, yet the fire in Sancheong remained only 30 percent contained even three days after it began, while Uiseong’s containment rate stood at less than 3 percent after two days.
 
Acting President Choi Sang-mok declared Sancheong and other severely hit areas as special disaster zones — the sixth time in history such a designation has been made for a wildfire. Nearly 20 years ago, on Arbor Day in 2005, the famed Naksansa Temple in Yangyang was completely destroyed in a blaze that shocked the nation. This time, the damage includes six of the seven buildings of Unnamsa Temple in Uiseong, a heritage site from the Silla Dynasty (57 B.C. to A.D. 935).
 
Despite the terrifying regularity of springtime wildfires, Korea seems no better prepared to prevent or respond to them. A perfect storm of factors — powerful winds that spread embers rapidly, dry leaves that act as fuel, and topographical and atmospheric conditions — continues to render suppression efforts difficult. During this most recent disaster, wind gusts reached 15 meters per second, with witnesses describing embers flying like ghost lights across the sky.
 
 

Residents in Sicheon-myeon, Sancheong County, South Gyeongsang look at a house blazed by the wildfire that has been sweeping the county on March 23. [YONHAP]

 
According to the Korea Forest Service, 56 percent of all annual wildfires — an average of 546 per year — occur between March and May. During spring, a combination of high-pressure systems to the south and low pressure to the north, along with differences in land and sea temperatures, creates intensified winds. Dry weather advisories worsen the situation. Ironically, when winds are too weak, smoke cannot dissipate, delaying helicopter deployment. This level of complexity requires a far more sophisticated and strategic wildfire response system than what is currently in place.
 
It is time to reassess whether the nation is taking wildfire prevention seriously enough. The leading cause of wildfires is human negligence — specifically, carelessness by hikers, which accounts for 31 percent of cases. The most recent fires are believed to have been sparked by embers during cemetery maintenance and makeshift shelter construction. There must be stronger public awareness about the risks of fire during springtime visits to mountainous areas.
 
Equally troubling is the reliance on elderly, nonprofessional firefighters — often temporary workers hired by local governments — to contain such large-scale disasters. These individuals are typically equipped with makeshift water trucks, backpack pumps and fire hooks, designed for small blazes, not fast-moving infernos. It raises the uncomfortable question: are we assigning the burden of major wildfire response to people ill-equipped for the task?
 
Vague reassurances from government authorities that “all available resources will be mobilized” are no longer enough. As wildfires grow more destructive and frequent each spring, the nation must finally move past words and toward a serious, actionable plan. 
 
Translated using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.