South Korean army soldiers work to prevent the further spread of wildfires in Uiseong, South Korea, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)2025-03-28T03:34:18Z SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Rain and cooler temperatures are helping South Korean fire crews as they battle the countrys worst-ever wildfires on Friday, as the governor of the hardest-hit region called for overhauling response strategies to respond to the climate crisis that he says worsened the disaster. The wildfires, which have killed 28 people and razed vast swaths of land in the southeast in the last week, were 85% contained as of Friday morning, Korea Forest Service chief Lim Sang-seop told a televised briefing. He said authorities will launch all-out efforts to extinguish the remaining blazes by bringing more helicopters and fire fighters to the areas. The raging inferno has also destroyed thousands of houses, factories, vehicles and other structures, while mountains and hills were stripped of anything but a carpet of smoldering ashes. Hazes have been diminished because of the rain last night, so thats favorable for securing visibility. Also temperatures are now lower than the last few days, so things are very favorable to put out the wildfires, Lim said.Firefighters many in their 60s, a reflection of one of the worlds fastest-aging populations navigated forests in yellow helmets and red protective suits, spraying suppressants at flames that flickered near their feet. Helicopters dropped buckets of water over hills that glowed red in the night. Residents hunkered down in temporary shelters in places like schools and gyms, but the fire crept dangerously close to some of them too. A video shared by one evacuee shows blazes approaching a school soccer field under a sky choked with smoke. I just kept crying this morning, said 79-year-old Seo Jae Tak, an evacuee at a gym in Andong city, on Thursday. When I went back yesterday, the entire mountain had turned to ashes. Its just unbelievable, I cant even put it into words. All I can do is cry. Authorities were mobilizing about 9,000 people, 125 helicopters and hundreds of other vehicles to battle the wildfires, the governments disaster response center said.The wildfires have burned 47,860 hectares (118,265 acres) of land, forced more than 30,000 people to flee their homes and injured 37 others since last Friday. Officials said Friday that 8,000 residents remained at temporary shelters. The fires have been driven by strong winds and dry weather.While its hard to link any one event to climate change, officials and experts say that it is making wildfires more likely and more severe. Scientists have already warned the warming atmosphere around the world is driving ever more extreme weather events, including wildfires, flooding, droughts, hurricanes and heat waves that are killing people and causing billions of dollars in damage every year.We must completely overhaul our wildfire response strategy in the face of extreme climate conditions, said Lee Cheol-woo, governor of North Gyeongsang Province, in a news conference.Lee noted that the past week has shown how wildfires, fueled by dry and windy conditions, can quickly overwhelm the countrys resources. He said he would request that the government establish better evacuation guidelines, adopt more powerful firefighting tools including aircraft equipped with water cannons, and adopt other approaches to improve firefighting efforts during nighttime hours. We dont have the equipment for firefighting at night, Lee said. In the night, firefighting is done solely with manual efforts, but with the increased density of our forests compared to the past, its difficult to manage with just that.On Thursday, Lee Han-kyung, deputy head of the disaster response center, told a meeting that the wildfires showed the reality of climate crisis that we have yet experienced, according to Yonhap news agency.The people killed were mostly in their 60s or older. They include a pilot whose helicopter crashed during efforts to contain a fire Wednesday and four firefighters and other workers who died earlier after being trapped by fast-moving flames. Officials say older people found it difficult to evacuate quickly but have not provided details of the civilian dead. In Uiseong, about 20 of the 30 structures at the Gounsa temple complex, which is said to have been originally built in the 7th century, have burned. Among them were two state-designated treasures: a pavilion overlooking a stream that dates to 1668, and a Joseon dynasty structure built in 1904 to mark the longevity of a king. ___Associated Press video journalist Yong Jun Chang in Andong, South Korea contributed to this report. HYUNG-JIN KIM Hyung-jin is an Associated Press reporter in Seoul, South Korea. He reports on security, political and other general news on the Korean Peninsula. twitter mailto KIM TONG-HYUNG Kim has been covering the Koreas for the AP since 2014. He has published widely read stories on North Koreas nuclear ambitions, the dark side of South Koreas economic rise and international adoptions of Korean children. twitter mailto