Main blaze contained at Seoul shantytown fire, no casualties reported
Firefighters brought the main blaze under control Tuesday after a fire broke out in Guryong Village, a shantytown in Seoul’s southern district of Gangnam, officials said. No casualties have been reported, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing Yonhap.
The fire broke out at around 3:50 p.m. at a makeshift building in the village, prompting 39 residents to evacuate, according to fire authorities.
Authorities issued a Level 1 emergency response at 3:59 p.m. and later raised the response level by one notch as the fire spread, before downgrading it to Level 1 again.
The main blaze was brought under control more than seven hours after the fire broke out. A total of 232 personnel and 110 pieces of equipment were deployed to fight the fire.
No injuries or missing persons have been reported so far.
The Gangnam Ward Office said 107 people from 77 households had been affected by the fire. A nearby school and gymnasium were designated as temporary shelters for the residents.
Guryong Village, the last remaining shantytown in Seoul’s affluent Gangnam district, is home to approximately 54 households spread across eight districts.
The village consists of densely packed homes built with combustible materials, including insulation wadding and plywood, making the area particularly vulnerable to rapidly spreading fires.
The previous fire in the village occurred in January, when 258 residents were evacuated after a blaze broke out in the fourth district and spread to neighboring areas.
President Lee Jae Myung instructed officials to mobilize all available resources for the firefighting operation and make every effort to protect residents.
Lee also ordered authorities to take measures to ensure the safety of firefighters at the scene, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said.
Earlier, it was reported that four Canadian soldiers had been killed and 39 others injured after a rapidly spreading fire swept through a military training area in Alberta.