The forest fire that broke out in Inje, Gangwon Province, on the 26th was extinguished in 20 hours. The forest authorities stated they are currently cleaning up the embers. The area affected by this forest fire has been tentatively assessed at 73 hectares.
The forest authorities said they extinguished the main fire around 9 a.m. on the 27th. They are also cleaning up the embers and monitoring the remaining fire with 7 helicopters, 105 personnel, and 11 pieces of equipment.
From 8:25 a.m., traffic was also restored on the sections of the Seoul-Yangyang Expressway that were blocked by the forest fire: a 35 km stretch from the Yangyang Junction to the Inje IC heading toward Seoul, and a 73 km stretch from Donghongcheon IC to Yangyang Junction heading toward Yangyang.
The Inje forest fire started around 1:18 p.m. the previous day near the Hanam-ri area of Sangnam-myeon, Inje, near Tunnel 7 of the Seoul-Yangyang Expressway.
The authorities raised the forest fire response level from stage 1 to stage 2. Stage 2 of the forest fire response is declared when the expected damage area is between 50 and 100 hectares, the average wind speed is between 7 and 11 meters per second, and the expected extinguishing time is less than 10 to 48 hours.
The authorities evacuated 243 residents of Girin-myeon in Inje County to the Girin Indoor Gymnasium the previous day. They also advised 129 residents from 19 villages in the neighboring Seomyeon area of Yangyang County to evacuate to nearby village halls and the National Sports Center.
The authorities plan to investigate the cause of the forest fire after finishing the cleanup of the embers.