HADONG, South Korea, The main wildfire at Mount Jiri National Park in southern South Korea was put out Sunday 21 hours after it began, having burned more than 900,000 hectares of woodland, authorities said.
A firefighter was killed in responding to the blaze that began in the mountainous town of Hadong, 286 kilometers south of Seoul, at 1:19 p.m. Saturday, according to the Korea Forest Service (KFS). It had spread to nearby areas before the main fire was put out around noon Sunday.
The firefighter was taken to a nearby hospital but later died.
Some 75 residents were forced to evacuate their homes, but no other casualties were reported, the KFS said.
The fire scorched an estimated 910,000 hectares of woodland, it added.
The authorities are working to put out the remaining fires and plan to launch probe into what caused them, according to the agency.
Source: Yonhap News Agency