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Researchers say climate change is responsible for South Korea's deadly blazes.

Scientists said that climate change made the worst wildfires ever seen in South Korea twice as likely. They also warned that such disasters may become more common if temperatures rise.

The fires that raged in the southeast of the country lasted for almost a week. They killed 32 people and destroyed around 5,000 structures before being brought under control at the end of March.

The fires spread over 104,000 hectares (257,00 acres), which is nearly four times as much land as South Korea's worst fire season of 25 years ago.

After combining observations with climate models, a 15-member team from the World Weather Attribution Group found that hot, windy, and dry conditions are now twice as common and 15% more intense.

South Korea is prone to fires during this time of year because of its cold, dry winters, and the rapid increase in temperatures in March and April. This was confirmed by June-Yi Lee, Research Center for Climate Sciences, Pusan National university.

She told a press briefing that this year's average temperatures between March 22 and 26 were 10 degrees Celsius above normal in the southeast. Patterns of low and high-pressure to the north and the south also generated powerful winds which helped the fire spread.

She said that the severity of this year's impact was extreme due to the dry weather and high temperatures.

If global warming continues to rise at its current rate, and by 2100 it has risen another 1.3 degrees, the weather conditions that caused fires may become more frequent.

Clair Barnes, of Imperial College London's Centre for Environmental Policy (ICL), said that the models predict an average increase of 5% and a doubling in the probability of similar extreme events.

Theo Keeping, at ICL's Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, expressed concern that South Korea had become more fire-prone due to its extensive tree planting program since the 1970s. Forest management must be adjusted to cope with the extreme heat challenges, he said.

He said that once a wildfire is severe enough, it cannot be extinguished by drops of water sprayed from helicopters and planes. We must manage the risk before such events occur. Reporting by David Stanway, Editing by Lincoln Feast.

(source: Reuters)