A wildfire broke out in North Korea’s Ryanggang Province, burning up some of the surrounding forests before being extinguished. Locals were mobilized to help fight the fire for almost a week, according to sources inside the country.
A source based in Ryanggang Province told Daily NK that the fire broke out on February 20 on a hill in Daepyong-ri, Pochon County, and burned through five hectares of forest before being put out. The wildfire did not cause any human casualties as it failed to reach populated areas.
“The fire was completely extinguished by February 26,” he said. “Those fighting the fire managed to prevent it from spreading to a nearby mountain a day after it emerged, but it took a week for the remaining fires to be put out and the smoke to clear.”
Daepyong-ri is a very small mountain village with less than 100 families. Smoke appeared on a hill not far from the village on February 20 and locals immediately headed out to push the flames back.
“The Pochon County fire department and people’s committee along with local police officers were all mobilized to fight the fire as soon as it became known,” said a separate source in Ryanggang Province.
“The head of the local fire department led the effort to extinguish the fire and was able to contain it a day later with the help of local residents who carried buckets of water.”
The North Korean authorities have recently placed extra emphasis on preventing any “unexpected incidents” from occurring given Kim Jong Un’s visit to Vietnam and the upcoming Supreme People’s Assembly elections early next month on March 10. Local officials in Pochon County were thus under pressure to fight the fire with all of the resources at their disposal because they would face political responsibility if it got out of control.
North Korean fire-fighting efforts still largely rely on human labor, in stark contrast to South Korea, which deploys helicopters to do the work. Local residents in Daesong-ri were involved in fire fighting activities for about a week as it continued to burn over the course of several days.
“Daepyong-ri doesn’t have any war memorial or historical sites that honor the regime so the authorities didn’t panic,” said an additional source in the region. “Local police are looking into why the fire broke out in the first place, but have failed to find evidence that it was deliberately lit.”
North Korea has continued to experience unprecedented dry weather this winter. The country’s rainfall was 3.6 mm from December 4 to the end of January, the lowest on record since 1981.
The Rodong Sinmun reported on February 1 that the “conditions are ripe for wildfires to break out due to the smallest spark […] People need to protect our forest resources by understanding the importance of their own work and display a sense of patriotism in the struggle to ensure wildfires do not break out.”
