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SEOUL: At least 18 people have died as multiple wildfires rage across South Korea's southeastern region, with thousands of firefighters aided by the military deployed in a bid to contain one of the country's worst forest fires in decades.

The deadly wildfires have spread rapidly and forced more than 27,000 residents to flee their homes, the government said. The blazes, fuelled by strong winds and dry weather, have razed entire neighbourhoods, closed schools and forced authorities to transfer hundreds of inmates from prisons.

As of 5am local time (4am, Singapore time) on Wednesday, 14 people had died in a wildfire starting from Uiseong county, while four other deaths were linked to another fire from Sancheong county, according to the Safety Ministry.

The Uiseong fire, only 68 per cent contained and exacerbated by strong winds, shows "unimaginable" scale and speed, said Lee Byung-doo, a forest disaster expert at the National Institute of Forest Science.

Han told an emergency safety and disaster meeting that the blazes were "developing in a way that is exceeding both existing prediction models and earlier expectations".

In the city of Andong, some evacuees sheltering in an elementary school gym told AFP they had to flee so quickly they could bring nothing with them.

Eight Russian helicopters out of the Korea Forest Service's fleet of 48 used in fire-fighting had been taken out of operation since last year due to an inability to import parts from Russia because of sanctions related to the Ukraine war, Yoon Joon-byeong, a Democratic Party lawmaker said in October, using data from the forest service.