Ganghwa Mt. Manisan forest fire extinguished in 17 hours… 220,000 square meters of damage

A fire broke out in Manisan, Ganghwa-do, Incheon, and forestry and firefighting authorities extinguished the fire 17 hours after the fire broke out.

According to the Forest Service’s Central Forest Fire Prevention Headquarters on the 27th, a fire broke out at the entrance of Manisan Mountain in Dongmak-ri, Hwado-myeon, Ganghwa-gun, Incheon at 2:44 pm the previous day.

No casualties have been confirmed as a result of this fire, but it was found that about 220,000 square meters of forest, the size of 30 soccer fields, was burned.

Fortunately, the fire did not spread to Manisan Water Purification Temple and surrounding facilities, which hold state-designated treasures such as the temple.

Eight residents of Dongmak-ri, who live near the forest fire, were also reported to have evacuated at one time and returned home safely.

The forest authorities issued a ‘forest fire stage 1’ at 4:30 pm the day before, an hour and 40 minutes after the fire broke out. This warning is issued when the average wind speed at the forest fire point is 2 to 4 m per second and the damage is expected to reach 10 to 30 hectares.

Then, on the 27th, 1,426 people, including 11 forest fire extinguishing helicopters, 39 fire trucks and other equipment, and forest fire disaster special firefighters, were put in place. .

The fire authorities, apart from the forest authorities, issued the first level of response at 3:24 pm the day before, 40 minutes after the fire broke out, and 40 minutes later, the alarm was raised to the second level to extinguish the fire. The response level was lowered to level 1 right after the evolution of the main fire on this day.

The police are investigating the exact cause of the fire after confirming that there were residential buildings, flat-type facilities, and gutdang warehouses around the entrance of Manisan Mountain in Dongmak-ri, the presumed ignition point.

An official from the Korea Forest Service said, “We are doing our best to extinguish the remaining fire and monitor the back fire so that the forest fire does not recur after the main fire is extinguished.”

(Source: Yonhap News / Translation of an article : James from JT News)