Photo: Yoon Gwan-shick/Yonhap via AP

Houses burn in a village after being engulfed by a wildfire fueled by strong winds in Uiseong, South Korea, Tuesday, March 25, 2025.

UPDATE: 9:21 p.m.

Wind-driven wildfires that were among South Korea's worst ever were ravaging the country's southern regions, killing 18 people, destroying more than 200 structures and forcing 27,000 people to evacuate, officials said Wednesday.

A 1,300-year-old Buddhist temple, houses, factories and vehicles were among the structures destroyed in the wildfires that have burned 43,330 acres and injured 19 people, the government’s emergency response center said.

In a televised address, South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo said the wildfires that began last Friday were causing worse damage than many other past wildfires.

“Damages are snowballing,” Han said. “There are concerns that we’ll have wildfire damages that we’ve never experienced, so we have to concentrate all our capabilities to put out the wildfires in the rest of this week.”

Han said crews were struggling to extinguish the wildfires because strong winds swept the areas overnight. Han said about 4,650 firefighters, soldiers and other personnel were working Wednesday to extinguish the wildfires with the help of about 130 helicopters. He said that “a small amount” of 5-10 millimeters of rain was expected Thursday.

Observers say the ongoing wildfires are the third biggest in South Korea in terms of land burned.

Officials in several southeastern cities and towns had ordered residents to evacuate Tuesday as firefighters struggled to contain multiple blazes fueled by dry winds. The largest fires were in Andong, the neighbouring counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, and the city of Ulsan, according to South Korea's Interior Ministry.

Earlier on Tuesday, officials had said firefighters had extinguished most of the flames from the largest wildfires in those areas, but wind and dry conditions allowed the blazes to spread again. But efforts to fight the fires were partially suspended overnight as the winds strengthened.

The blaze in Uiseong destroyed Gounsa, a temple built in the 7th century, according to officials from the Korea Heritage Service. Some of the temple’s treasures, including a stone Buddha statue, were evacuated before the fire reached the wooden buildings.

The Korea Forest Service said it had raised its wildfire warning to the highest “serious” level nationwide Tuesday, requiring local governments to assign more workers to emergency response, tighten entry restrictions for forests and parks, and recommend that military units withhold live-fire exercises.

The 18 dead include four firefighters and government workers who were killed in Sancheong on Saturday after being trapped by fast-moving flames driven by strong winds, according to officials.

Government officials suspect human error caused several of the fires, possibly due to the use of fire while clearing overgrown grass in family tombs or sparks from welding work.

ORIGINAL: 6:30 a.m.

Officials in the South Korean city of Andong on Tuesday alerted residents to evacuate to safe areas as firefighters struggled to contain wildfires that have ravaged southern regions since last week, forcing thousands to flee and destroying likely hundreds of structures, including a 1,300-year-old Buddhist temple.

Thousands of firefighters in South Korea were battling at least nine wildfires across the country as of Tuesday afternoon, after the blazes fueled by dry winds burned more than 36,300 acres of land in the past five days.

Officials in Andong, a city in the country’s southeast, and the nearby town of Uiseong ordered residents in several villages and those near Andong University to evacuate to safe locations or temporary shelters — including schools and indoor gyms — as a fire that started in Uiseong continued to spread due to strong winds. The fire in Andong was also reaching the village of Pungcheon, home to the Hahoe folk village, a UNESCO World Heritage site founded around the 14-15th centuries.

The blaze in Uiseong destroyed Gounsa, a Buddhist temple built in the 7th century, according to officials from the Korea Heritage Service. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and some of the temple’s national treasures, including a stone Buddha statue, were evacuated before the fire reached the wooden buildings.

The fire was also spreading to the nearby coastal town of Yeongdeok, where officials shut down roads and ordered residents of at least four villages to evacuate. The Justice Ministry did not immediately confirm local reports that it had begun relocating some 2,600 inmates from a prison in Cheongsong county, near Uiseong.

More than 3,700 firefighters, along with 76 helicopters and 530 vehicles, were deployed to battle the fires in the Uiseong and Andong areas, which were nearly 70% contained as of Tuesday evening, according to the Korea Forest Service.

The service raised its wildfire warning to the highest “serious” level nationwide, requiring local governments to allocate a larger work force for emergency response, tighten entry restrictions for forests and parks, and recommend that military units withhold live-fire exercises.

South Korean officials said earlier on Tuesday that firefighters had extinguished most of the flames from the largest wildfires in the country’s southern regions, including Uiseong, the neighboring town of Sancheong, and Ulsan city. However, the ongoing dry and windy weather now appears to be causing setbacks.

Four firefighters and government workers were killed in Sancheong on Saturday after being trapped by fast-moving flames driven by strong winds. At least 11 other people have been injured by wildfires around the country since last Friday, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

The national government designated the hardest-hit southeastern regions as disaster zones to focus resources and accelerate recovery efforts.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, serving as the country’s acting leader following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment over a December martial law decree, vowed an all-out effort to contain the wildfires during a government meeting on Tuesday. He also urged public vigilance as dry spring weather persists.

Government officials suspect that several of the recent wildfires, including those in Uiseong and Ulsan, were caused by human error, possibly due to the use of fire while clearing overgrown grass in family tombs or sparks from welding work.