South Korea's Wildfires Have Killed At Least 24 People



The wind-driven wildfires, among the worst in South Korea's history, have killed 24 people, destroyed more than 200 structures and forced the evacuation of 27,000 people, according to the latest toll.


The death toll included a pilot who died after a helicopter crashed during efforts to contain the wildfires in the southeastern city of Uiseong, one of the hardest-hit areas, authorities said.


The aircraft had no other crew members.


At least 26 other people suffered varying degrees of injuries, the National Fire Agency said.


An ancient Buddhist temple, homes, factories and vehicles were among the structures destroyed in the wildfires.


South Korea's acting president, Han Duck-soo, said the wildfires that began on Friday were causing worse damage than many previous wildfires.


"The damage is mounting. We fear we will have damage from wildfires that we have never seen before, so we have to focus all our efforts to put out the fires by the end of this week," Han said.



About 4,650 firefighters, soldiers and other personnel are on the ground, with help from about 130 helicopters, he said.


The largest fires were in Andong, the neighboring counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, and the city of Ulsan, according to South Korea's Interior Ministry.


The Uiseong fire destroyed nearly half of more than 30 structures at Gounsa, a temple believed to have originally been built in the 7th century.


The Korea Forest Service raised the nationwide wildfire alert to the highest level on Tuesday, demanding that local governments assign more emergency response personnel, tighten entry restrictions to forests and parks, and recommend that military units suspend live-fire drills.


Government officials suspect human error caused several fires.