<Anchor>



The Gyeongbuk Bonghwa forest fire that started yesterday (5th) noon continues to spread.

The forestry authorities have issued a '3rd stage of the forest fire' and are working to extinguish the fire by putting in night-time firefighters.



First news, this is reporter Han Se-hyun.



<Reporter>



Red flames continue along the mountain ridge, and black smoke continues to rise.



Near private houses, firefighters are busy with firefighting work. 



Yesterday, around 1:30 PM, a fire broke out in a hill in Hwacheon-ri, Bonghwa-eup, Bonghwa-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do.



The fire was carried by strong winds of 10 m/s and quickly spread to the nearby hills.



The forestry authorities tried to extinguish the fire with firefighting helicopters and 400 firefighters, but failed to catch the main fire.



[Lee In-jung / Chief of Yeongju Fire Department: 23 helicopters are being mobilized, including those of the Korea Forest Service.

Volunteer fire brigade and all personnel are deployed on site.

We will do our best to extinguish it early.]



As the sun goes down, the forest authorities issued the '3rd stage of forest fire response' at 7 pm yesterday evening, and 70 firefighting equipment and 620 people to extinguish the fire at night were put in to extinguish the fire. We are continuing.



Fortunately, there have been no casualties so far, and all 20 or so residents who had evacuated to the town hall have also returned home. 



[Lee Young-ok / Socheon-ri, Bonghwa-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do: It is difficult to breathe because the smoke is so thick, and the mountains in front and back are on fire, so there is no time to forcibly pack clothes (evacuated.)]



As of 11 o'clock last night, the evolution rate was 75%, so far one empty house and two warehouses have been burned, and 105ha of forest has been lost.



The forest authorities plan to catch the main fire overnight, but the strong winds that exceed 9 m/s are making it difficult to extinguish.



Forest authorities believe that the fire started from the ashes of a wood boiler thrown away from a private house, and plan to determine the exact cause of the fire as soon as the firefighting work is finished.