[Anchor]

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

Reporter Park Jaehyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

The fire in Guryong Village was extinguished 12 hours and 50 minutes later, after burning approximately 190,000 square meters, equivalent to 26 football fields.

Police and fire authorities began a joint inspection this morning to figure out 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 Zone 2, where homes are densely packed, but many are vacant due to relocations.

Authorities stated that they have narrowed down the initial ignition point to around 7 households located within Zone 2, and plan to identify the exact cause of the fire through a second investigation on October 30.

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

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

Due to casualties and the risk of further spreading, Level 1 response was issued 10 minutes after the fire started, followed by Level 2 30 minutes later.

During the firefighting process, firefighters experienced difficulties with early containment due to a shortage of available firefighting water nearby.

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

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

Gangnam District Office stated that the number of displaced persons, initially tallied at 77 households and 107 people, increased to 91 households and 127 people after additional counting.

(Camera: Choi Dae-woong, Yoon Hyung, Kang Si-woo | Video Editing: Yu Mi-ra)