"Even if the fire seems out, it will reignite if the wind blows."

Kim Young-suk (65) said while scraping the scorched ground beneath a tree, which had turned black from the fire, with a rake, in Ansa-myeon, Uiseong-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, on March 27. Smoke rose from every spot the rake passed. Her son, carrying a water pump on his back, approached and sprayed water, causing the smoke to subside.

Farmer Kim became a "warrior" when the wildfires spread to his village. He has been helping firefighters by climbing up and down the mountain behind the village for six days since the fire broke out. While many of the residents have evacuated, Kim and his son could not bear to watch their hometown burn. Kim said, "Since the wildfires broke out, I have been cleaning up embers every day from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. I am busy transporting clothes and other necessary items in my vehicle and visiting the affected areas."

A man sprays water on his burned-out house in Yeongdeok-eup, Yeongdeok-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, on March 26. Reporter Baek Min-jeong

Lee Sang-yeol (37), who works in Seoul, took time off to help his mother. Lee said, "When I heard the news from afar, I couldn't focus on work. But seeing the situation firsthand, it's much more serious than I imagined." Below the mountain where they were clearing embers, there were about ten houses.

As the large-scale wildfires in the Yeongnam region continue to rage, firefighting resources reached their limits, prompting local residents to roll up their sleeves. They filled farming equipment with water instead of pesticides and sprayed water toward the flames instead of their fields.

Civic groups also joined the effort. About 40 members of the "Gyeongbuk Safety Task Force," a group of private experts with certificates in the disaster and safety fields, have been patrolling the smoke-filled mountains for days to fight the fires. It is a private organization that helps wildfire response, earthquake relief, and flood recovery. Yoo Jae-yong, head of the Gyeongbuk Safety Task Force, said, "Many members are participating with a sense of urgency to put out the fire as soon as possible."

Members of the Korea Amateur Radio League helped locate embers by flying drones while climbing up and down steep terrain. Lee Kyung-pil (56), who came from Gyeongju, said, "It broke my heart to see forests and cultural heritage being lost, so I had to come and help." Firefighting authorities follow the principle of evacuating residents and extinguishing the fire when there is a risk of wildfires spreading to residential areas. This time, however, the rapid spread of the wildfires and the embers scattering in multiple directions created an urgent situation that was too overwhelming for firefighters alone to handle.

A man in his 70s, whom we met in Yeongdeok-eup, Yeongdeok-gun, was spraying water on his house with a hose. Smoke was continuously billowing from inside. He said, "Firefighters had to leave to put out fires elsewhere, so they showed me how to use this before they left." An official from the Yeongdeok Fire Station said, "Due to the shortage of manpower, we instructed residents gathered at the community center on initial firefighting methods," adding, "Firefighters are patrolling the areas where the wildfires are spreading and extinguishing flames whenever they spot them. It's an emergency situation."