[Anchor]

The fire that broke out yesterday afternoon (October 27) in Seoul's Guryong Village engulfed an area equivalent to 26 soccer fields and was extinguished early this morning after 13 hours. Police and fire authorities have launched a joint inspection to investigate the cause of the fire.

Reporter Park Jaehyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

The fire in Guryong Village was extinguished after 12 hours and 50 minutes, having burned an area equivalent to 26 soccer fields, or approximately 190,000 square meters.

Police and fire authorities began a joint inspection this morning to determine the cause of the fire.

In addition to the inspection, police are questioning the person who reported the fire and eyewitnesses.

The fire first broke out in District 2, a densely populated area where a significant number of residents have already relocated, leaving many vacant homes. At the time of the fire, emergency services received multiple reports stating that a fire appeared to have started at a garbage dump.

[Guryong Village Resident (Yesterday): It is strange. Why would a fire suddenly break out in broad daylight like this? There is no reason for a fire to start here.]

Fanned by strong winds exceeding 5 meters per second, the fire that started in District 2 spread to District 1 and District 7.

Due to concerns over casualties and the rapid spread, a Level 1 response was issued 10 minutes after the fire broke out, followed by a Level 2 response 30 minutes later.

During the firefighting efforts, responders faced difficulties with initial suppression due to a shortage of available nearby firefighting water sources.

Fire authorities brought the major blaze under control at around 2:20 a.m. today and completely extinguished it at around 4:40 a.m.

Thirty-nine people, including residents, evacuated on their own, preventing major casualties. However, one woman in her 30s sprained her ankle during the evacuation and is currently receiving treatment at a hospital.

The Gangnam District Office stated that the number of displaced residents, initially estimated at 77 households and 107 people, increased to 91 households and 127 people following additional counts.

(Video reported by Choi Dae-woong, Yoon Hyeong, and Kang Si-woo | Video edited by Yu Mi-ra)