Wildfire in southeastern South Korea extinguished after 3 days

By Islamuddin Sajid

ANKARA (AA) – A wildfire in southeastern South Korea has been brought under control after three days, authorities said on Thursday.

The blaze in the coastal county of Yeongdeok damaged around 400 hectares of land and displaced over 1,000 people, but no casualties were reported, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Officials of the Korea Forest Service (KFS) said about 40 firefighting helicopters and around 2,200 personnel took part in the operation to put out the fire in a region some 350 kilometers (217 miles) southeast of the capital Seoul.

“Firefighters are in the process of extinguishing small flames,” KFS head Choi Byeong-am said, adding that heavy winds and dry weather initially caused difficulty in containing blaze.

Preliminary investigations showed the fire was ignited by sparks generated when a stray piece of solar reflective film, used for agriculture, hit a utility pole, according to the report.