South Korea wildfire forces 500 residents to evacuate, rain helps fight flames

More than 500 people evacuated from their homes in South Korea's eastern coastal city of Gangneung as strong winds fanned a wildfire on Tuesday, officials said, but fears of a further spread eased as rain helped firefighters battle the blaze.

The fire, which started at around 8:30 a.m. local time (2330 GMT on Monday) in Gangneung, was mostly extinguished as of 4:30pm, after consuming 170 hectares (420 acres) of land and prompting the evacuation of some 550 residents in the city of more than 200,000 people, the Korea Forest Service said.

The fire injured three people, including two firefighters, and destroyed dozens of buildings, the national forestry agency said. A body was found later in the afternoon in a burnt house in the affected area, Yonhap news agency reported, citing Gangneung Police Station.

The fire appears to have started after strong winds blew a tree over onto live overhead power cables, igniting flames, officials said.

Firefighting crews had struggled to put out the fast-moving blaze due to strong winds, but rain then tamped it down by the afternoon.

Photos and footage circulating on social media showed fires razing forests and fields, and buildings engulfed by smoke.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol had ordered officials to mobilise all available resources to put out the fire as soon as possible and quickly evacuate nearby residents to minimise casualties, his office said.