All this, and still every year there are more fires covering an ever wider surface of the country. The experts see the increase as being entirely the fault of human beings. These are calamities that could be avoided if only we were more careful and better prepared, but carelessness continues to cause the same kind of damage, over and over again. There were 729 forest fires recorded last year, five times more than the 139 that occurred in 1991. The other 24 have been determined to have been caused by cigarettes.
Prevention is of course the best way to avoid damage from forest fires.
Our forests are becoming denser every year, and this is part of the reason for the ever increasing potential for more fires. The only option is to intensify enforcement of fire laws and prevention activities. Arsonists of course deserve stronger punishment, but so do people who start fires accidentally, and increasing penalties will help spread awareness. There is also a pressing need for more firefighting equipment. The KFS currently has seven helicopters working emergency overtime in the East Sea region, but fires spring up wherever they want to, and officials say their equipment is insufficient to fight them effectively.