South Korea faces uphill battle to contain massive wildfires as death toll rises to 26

Multiple wildfires raging across South Korea’s southern regions for days have killed 26 people and destroyed more than 300 structures, officials said, as thousands of personnel and dozens of helicopters were mobilized again Thursday to battle the the county’s worst-ever blazes.Korea Forest Service chief Lim Sang-seop said “a small amount” – less than 0.2 inches – of rain was expected in the area on Thursday, not enough to play a meaningful role in extinguishing the wildfires.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.Authorities haven’t disclosed details of the civilian dead, except that they are mostly in their 60s and 70s.They 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.The wildfires have burned 88,488 acres of land in the southeast, the government’s disaster response center said in a report Thursday.

Observers say that’s the worst figure of its kind in South Korea.The report said the blazes have also injured nearly 30 people, destroyed about 320 buildings and structures and forced more than 24,200 people to evacuate.As of Thursday morning, the center said authorities were mobilizing more than 9,000 people and about 120 helicopters to battle the wildfires.“Damages are snowballing,” acting President Han Duck-soo said in a televised address Wednesday.

“There are concerns that we’ll have wildfire damages that we’ve never experienced, so we have to concentrate all our capabilities on putting out the wildfires this week.”Hardest-hit areas are Andong city and neighboring counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, and the city of Ulsan.On Wednesday night, strong winds and smoke-filled skies forced authorities in the southeastern cit...