<Anchor> The
forest fire in Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do, which started yesterday (20th) afternoon, finally caught a big fire this morning.
Now, we are sorting out the remaining lights everywhere, but we will connect with reporters on the scene to hear the situation.
Reporter Jeong Ban-seok, please.
<Reporter>
Yes, I am at the Nochusan forest fire site in Yeoryang-myeon, Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do.
The Forest Service said it had caught a big fire around 9:40 am today, 18 hours after the fire broke out.
Currently, eight helicopters, including a firefighting helicopter belonging to the Forest Service, spray water from nearby streams to smoke areas to extinguish residual fires.
The fire started at around 3:50 pm yesterday at the back of the private house at the foot of Mount Nochu.
The strong winds spread in the direction of the summit, and last night the fire reached 700 meters.
The forest authorities put 14 helicopters, 33 extinguishing vehicles, special fire extinguishers and firefighters, and more than 400 personnel to extinguish all night.
Due to the steep slope of the fire site, it was difficult for ground personnel to access it.
The Forest Service estimates that 12 hectares of national forest were burned by this fire.
There are 7 households and 16 residents living under the fired mountain, and fortunately, the flames moved to the summit opposite the private house and there was no damage to the villagers.
The forest authorities are paying attention to the occurrence of additional fires, as the embers may come back to life when the wind gets stronger due to the nature of forest fires.