The wildfire that broke out in Uljin county, North Gyeongsang Province has spread to parts of a pine tree colony that is home to tens of thousands of trees over two-hundred years old.

Chief of the Korea Forest Service(KFS) Choi Byeong-am shared the development in a briefing at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. He explained that the fire near the Geumgang pine tree colony ignited the forest at around 7 a.m. Large helicopters have since been dispatched to the scene to block a further spread.

Choi expressed concern about the safety of the firefighters as the center of the pine tree colony is surrounded by valleys, making it difficult to put out the blaze.

The Geumgang pine tree colony, stretching over two-thousand-200 hectares across the west of Uljin county, has high ecological value as a well-preserved forest of pine trees numbering in the tens of thousands. Trees over two-hundred-years old from the forest are used to restore Korea's various cultural assets.