Acting president Han Duck-soo vowed to deploy firefighting helicopters and ground personnel to put out the fires as quickly as possible.

The city of Andong, with a population of 150,000 people, issued an alert to its residents to evacuate to safe areas, according to a city official and a public text alert.

The city is home to the 14th to 15th century Hahoe Folk Village, a Unesco World Heritage site.

The official said the blaze was currently about 10km from Hahoe.

Authorities designated the affected counties “special disaster zones”.

The ministry of justice said it has begun transferring about 2,600 inmates from a total of four prisons in Cheongsong county due to the wildfires.

At least four people have been killed and hundreds forced to flee their homes since blazes broke out in several areas on Saturday, stoked by strong winds and dry weather.

The wildfires have already gutted local landmarks including ancient Buddhist temples.

“Because this is such an old temple, it is so regrettable and heartbreaking that it has been burned down,” said Jeung Meung-suk, a 55-year-old Buddhist follower at Unramsa, a thousands-year old temple most of whose buildings were burned.