Andong, March 29 Wildfires in South Korea reignited in the southeastern part of the country overnight, fire authorities said on Saturday, adding firefighting helicopters were dispatched to extinguish them.
An official with Gyeongbuk Fire Service Headquarters said reports of smoke in Andong, some 190 kilometers southeast of Seoul in North Gyeongsang Province, had started coming in at around 10 p.m. Friday night. Forestry officials believe the fire reignited around 3 a.m. on Saturday.
The Korea Expressway Corporation blocked off a section of a nearby highway at 5 a.m. and reopened it just before 9 a.m. With vehicles unable to reach the mountainous areas, 11 helicopters were called in to contain the fire.
Officials said fires had also restarted in other parts of the province, including Euiseong, just south of Andong.
Regional officials called in nine firefighting helicopters, along with 230 firefighters and public servants and 50 soldiers, to contain the fires.
Separately, a fire that started near a transmission tower around 9 p.m. Friday in the county of Cheongsong, east of Andong, spread to an adjacent mountain. Cheongsong officials warned residents to brace for a possible power outage.
Nine other helicopters were in operation over Cheongsong and Yeongyang to put out embers. North Gyeongsang officials said plumes of smoke were rising in some parts of the province but claimed fires had not restarted. The province plans to send in 30 helicopters on Saturday.
The Korea Forest Service earlier announced wildfires in North Gyeongsang had been fully brought under control as of 5 p.m. Friday after killing or injuring dozens of people and forcing thousands of others to flee.
About 48,000 hectares of woodland, equivalent to some 80 per cent of the size of Seoul, have been scorched in the worst wildfire disaster ever in South Korea, according to the forestry agency.
Of them, nearly 13,000 ha were in Euiseong, and nearly 10,000 were in Andong, Yonhap news agency reported.
The fire also damaged 2,996 houses and more than 1,000 agricultural facilities, according to an official estimate.
According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the death toll from the fires hit 30 on Saturday, up two from the previous day, along with 43 injuries. It said 6,885 people from 4,193 households had yet to return home since evacuating.
It added that some 55.4 billion won ($37.7 million) had been collected in donations through relief organizations.
South Korean Acting President Han Duck-soo said the government will provide "full administrative and financial support" for displaced people until they return to normalcy.
Presiding over a meeting in Seoul on the response to the wildfires, Han also urged firefighting authorities to keep a close eye on embers.
"It's more important than anything to ensure there won't be a recurrence of such a tragedy," Han said.
"We need to take a comprehensive review of the government's response system and see if we're prepared for major wildfires amid rapid climate change."
The interior ministry plans to offer 230 million won to back relief efforts in North Gyeongsang.
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