The government announced Thursday it will designate March 14 through April 19 as a "Special Large-Scale Wildfire Response Period" and fully activate a government-wide cooperative response system to prepare for spring wildfire risks.
Over the past decade (2016-2025), 46% of all wildfires and 96% of damaged areas were concentrated in March and April. Of the 38 large-scale wildfires affecting 100 hectares or more, 28 incidents (approximately 74%) occurred during this period, requiring heightened vigilance.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korea Forest Service jointly held an inter-agency meeting Thursday to review each organization's response readiness ahead of the response period.
Following last year's massive wildfires in the Yeongnam region, the government established a "Joint Inter-Agency Comprehensive Wildfire Plan" in December. Under this plan, the government is mobilizing all available national resources, including rapid deployment of firefighting helicopters (arrival within 30 minutes), expanded military helicopter support (143 aircraft total), and reinforced forestry and firefighting personnel and equipment.
Thursday's meeting discussed agency-specific wildfire prevention measures and cooperation plans based on the comprehensive plan.
During the special response period, the government will strengthen wildfire prevention and enforcement activities centered on the Korea Forest Service, including weekend mobile patrols. Violators caught engaging in illegal burning will face strict penalties.
For rapid response, firefighting resources including helicopters and fire trucks will be repositioned to high-risk areas. When catastrophic wildfires are anticipated, the Korea Forest Service Commissioner will directly command on-site operations to establish swift suppression strategies.
Local governments plan to immediately activate regional disaster safety response headquarters and on-site integrated command centers to focus all efforts on early wildfire response.
"Due to recent unusual weather patterns, wildfires are occurring simultaneously and growing larger, limiting what the Korea Forest Service can handle alone with its resources and efforts," said Korea Forest Service Commissioner Park Eun-sik. "We will do our utmost to protect citizens' lives and property from wildfires by preventing, preparing for, and rapidly responding to fires together with all wildfire-related agencies including central ministries, local governments, and public institutions."