Main Fire at Inje, Gangwon Province "Brought Under Control"... No Major Facility or Human Damage

The main fire at Inje, Gangwon Province, has been brought under control.

On November 21, the Central Forest Disaster Situation Room of the Korea Forest Service announced that as of 10:30 AM that day, the main fire had been extinguished.

A forest fire broke out around 5:23 PM on the 20th in a mountain area in Girin-myeon, Inje-gun, Gangwon Province, and forestry and fire authorities are conducting firefighting operations. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The wildfire started around 5:29 PM the previous day in a mountain area near Hyeon-ri, Girin-myeon, Inje-gun, Gangwon Province, and was extinguished in about 17 hours without major facility damage.

After the wildfire broke out, the forest authorities issued Wildfire Response Level 1 at 10:00 PM, when the affected area exceeded 10 hectares. Wildfire Response Level 1 is declared when the affected area is estimated to be between 10 and 50 hectares.

At the scene the previous day, a total of 69 wildfire response vehicles (24 wildfire suppression and command vehicles, 18 fire engines, and 27 other vehicles) and 338 personnel (including 179 from the special wildfire suppression team, 29 forestry officials, 49 firefighters, 6 military personnel, 34 police officers, and 41 volunteer firefighters) were urgently deployed to conduct overnight ground firefighting operations.

With sunrise, 30 wildfire suppression helicopters were sequentially dispatched to the site, accelerating the extinguishing efforts. According to field officials, the extinguishing rate increased rapidly after sunrise as helicopters could be deployed, unlike during the night when helicopter operations were not possible.

Additionally, relatively stable wind conditions at the wildfire site, with wind speeds around 1 to 2 meters per second, also helped to quickly contain the fire.

As of the morning of November 21, the wildfire-affected area at the Inje site in Gangwon Province is estimated to be 36 hectares.

With the main fire extinguished, the forest authorities will now shift to mop-up and post-fire monitoring operations. They also plan to investigate the cause of the wildfire and determine the exact area affected through on-site inspections by the wildfire investigation team.

The 12 residents who had evacuated due to the wildfire will also return home in sequence.

The Korea Forest Service and Gangwon Province stated, "Due to the dry weather, there is a high risk that even small embers could develop into large-scale wildfires," and urged residents to refrain from burning trash or agricultural waste near forested areas.