Govt. to reinforce measures to improve prediction for spread of wildfires
Evacuation alerts to be categorized into three different levels based on wildfires' spread
The South Korean government said Wednesday it will update the current Wildfire Spread Prediction System to better handle the rapid spread of wildfires, by adopting appropriate prevention measures that consider the maximum instantaneous wind speeds rather than average wind speeds.
The Ministry of Interior and Safety and the Korea Forest Service announced a set of measures for safe and effective evacuation from fires, after southeastern parts of Korea battled some of the worst wildfires in the country's history that continued for nine days from March 21.
Authorities said errors in the system were found during the latest wildfires, which were recorded at a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 27.6 meters per second. This corresponds to wildfires spreading at a speed of 8.2 kilometers per hour.
These figures however, were largely inaccurate because the system accounted only for wind speeds on flat terrain. As the March fires occurred in mountainous areas, the existing system failed to take into account steep topography that can cause sudden shifts in wind direction and speed, resulting in misleading forecasts.
'Though the government continuously referred to the Wildfire Spread Prediction System to issue evacuation orders as it did in the past, the system proved to be highly inaccurate during the recent wildfire crisis,' said Hong Jong-wan, deputy minister of the Interior Ministry's Societal Disaster Response Bureau.
To address the recent shortcomings, the Korea Forest Service plans to upgrade its wildfire prediction system to factor in maximum instantaneous wind speeds rather than average wind speeds. If maximum wind speeds exceed 20 m/s, the system will recognize it has potential to grow into a high-speed fire and alert local governments of affected areas to take appropriate measures.
Additionally, the alert system will be upgraded to distinguish whether a wildfire's path has been identified or remains unknown. If the wildfire's route has been identified with the help of firefighting helicopters and drones, the system will continuously work to calculate the potential reach of the flames based on maximum wind speeds and other real-time data.
Also, using the data calculated on the prediction system, the government will categorize the evacuation alert into three different levels. The first level will be issued when a wildfire breaks out in a nearby province or city to inform its residents that an evacuation order could be issued soon. The second and third levels will be issued for areas designated as 'potential danger zones' and 'danger zones' and evacuation protocol will differ accordingly.
To make sure evacuation measures play out effectively in and orderly manner, the Interior Ministry added that it will initiate fire evacuation training sessions in partnership with local governments.
Though the ministry didn't specify until when the training sessions would take place, Hong told the press that it will 'take place on numerous accounts and as soon as possible, with the earliest training sessions scheduled to take place by the end of April.'
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