Jeri Dansky<p>Firefighting is hard enough here in the US. But South Korea, suffering from horrendous fires now, has its own set set of challenges. </p><p>“A combination of an aging society and a reliance on temporary workers meant older people were disproportionately on the frontlines tackling South Korea's devastating wildfires this week.”</p><p>“About 73% of South Korea's 9,472 seasonal wildfire fighters are over 60-years-old, according to the forest service's latest data, often the only people available to work such schedules.</p><p>“The position has no age limit and pays $50 per day, employed during January-May and November-December periods, according to the service's website.”</p><p>And sadly, some of those older firefighters have died, including a 73-year-old pilot who died when his helicopter crashed. </p><p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/wildfires-aging-society-make-deadly-mix-south-korea-2025-03-28/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">reuters.com/world/asia-pacific</span><span class="invisible">/wildfires-aging-society-make-deadly-mix-south-korea-2025-03-28/</span></a> or <a href="https://archive.vn/Zj3Ln" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">archive.vn/Zj3Ln</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p>h/t <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@CelloMomOnCars" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>CelloMomOnCars</span></a></span><br><a href="https://sfba.social/tags/wildfires" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>wildfires</span></a> <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/Korea" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Korea</span></a> <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/SouthKorea" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SouthKorea</span></a></p>