South Korean authorities have declared ongoing wildfires the worst to ever hit the country.
The country’s disaster Chief, Lee Han-kyung said that the wildfires were now “the largest on record”, having burned more forest than any previous blazes.
“The wildfire is spreading rapidly. The forest damage has reached 35,810 hectares, already exceeding the area affected by the 2000 east coast wildfire, previously the largest on record, by more than 10,000 hectares.”
Lee Han-kyung
Local authorities said on Thursday, March 27, 2025, that the wildfires – which began last Friday in Sancheong county in North Gyeongsang province – have now killed at least 26 people.
The fatalities include a pilot whose helicopter crashed during efforts to contain a fire and four firefighters and other workers who died after being trapped by fast-moving flames driven by strong winds.
About 37,000 people have also been displaced.
South Korea has relied on a fleet of helicopters to battle the fires across several regions – including Gyeongbuk, Uiseong, Andong, Cheongsong, Yeongyang and Sancheong
The military has released stocks of aviation fuel to help keep firefighting helicopters flying to douse flames across mountainous regions in the province, where fires have been burning now for nearly a week.
More than 300 structures had been destroyed, officials said.
Authorities suspect human error caused several of the wildfires that began last Friday, including cases where people started fires while clearing overgrown grass from family tombs or with sparks during welding work.
Harsh Reality Of A Climate Crisis
Pointing to ultra-dry conditions and strong winds that have worsened the damage, Lee Han-kyung, Disaster and Safety division Chief, said, “This wildfire has once again exposed the harsh reality of a climate crisis unlike anything we’ve experienced before.”
The affected areas have seen only half the average rainfall this season, while the country has experienced more than double the number of fires this year than last.
Last year was South Korea’s hottest year on record, with the Korea Meteorological Administration saying that the average annual temperature was 14.5C – two degrees higher than the preceding 30-year average of 12.5C.
Yeh Sang-Wook, Professor of climatology at Hanyang University in Seoul, said that the lack of rainfall had dried out the land “creating favourable conditions for wildfires.”
“This can be seen as one of the fundamental causes. We can’t say that it’s only due to climate change, but climate change is directly [and] indirectly affecting the changes we are experiencing now. This is a simple fact.”
Yeh Sang-Wook
The meteorological agency has forecast some rain for the south-west but precipitation is expected to be under 5mm for most of the affected areas.
The Korea Forest Service Minister, Lim Sang-seop, stated, “The amount of rain is going to be small so it doesn’t look like it’ll be big help in trying to extinguish the fire.”
Officials said earlier this week that firefighters had extinguished most of the flames from the largest wildfires in key areas, but wind and dry conditions allowed them to spread again.
The Climate Central group, an independent body made up of scientists and researchers, noted that higher temperatures amplified by human-caused climate change contributed to the existing seasonally dry conditions, “turning dry landscapes into dangerous fire fuel” in the region.
The blazes were threatening two UNESCO world heritage sites – Hahoe Village and the Byeongsan Confucian academy – in Andong city on Wednesday, a city official said, as authorities sprayed fire retardants to try to protect them.
Workers are scrambling to move historic artefacts out of the flames’ reach. A 1,300-year-old temple in Uiseong has already been destroyed by the fire, and more historical sites are under threat
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