At least 19 people have been killed in one of South Korea's worst wildfire outbreaks, with multiple raging blazes causing "unprecedented damage", the acting president said Wednesday.

More than a dozen fires broke out over the weekend, scorching wide swathes of the southeast, forcing around 27,000 people to urgently evacuate, with the fire cutting off roads and downing communications lines as residents fled in panic.

Overnight into Wednesday, the death toll jumped to 19 as wind-driven flames tore through neighbourhoods and razed an ancient temple.

Eighteen people were killed in the wildfires and a pilot in a firefighting helicopter died when his aircraft crashed in a mountain area, officials said.

According to the interior ministry, the wildfires have charred 17,398 hectares (42,991 acres), with the blaze in Uiseong county alone accounting for 87 percent of the total.

The government has raised the crisis alert to its highest level and taken the rare step of transferring thousands of inmates out of prisons in the area.

"Wildfires burning for a fifth consecutive day... are causing unprecedented damage," South........

© International Business Times