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As the dry weather continues, the forest fire that broke out yesterday (8th) in Hapcheon, Gyeongsangnam, is still not extinguished. Forest officials expect to be able to contain the flames sometime this morning.

First, reporter Je Hee-won reports.

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Flames burn along the ridge in the
dark, forming a red band.

A fire that broke out at around 2 p.m. yesterday at a mountain in Yongju-myeon, Hapcheon County, Gyeongsangnam, quickly spread to the surrounding mountains with strong winds.

At that time, the maximum wind speed was 12 meters per second at the site, and the flames spread quickly.

The forest authorities explained that they arrived at the scene about 10 minutes after receiving the report, but 30ha had already been burned.

After all-night evolution work, the evolution rate is currently in the 90% range.

Forest officials expect to launch helicopters as soon as daylight to speed up extinguishing and be able to contain the flames by 9 a.m. today.

The third phase of forest fire response, which is issued when the forest fire affected area exceeds 100 ha, was issued for the first time this year in this Hapcheon forest fire.

So far, more than 3 villagers have been evacuated urgently, but the forest authorities believe there are no casualties.

With dry weather and strong winds, forest fires broke out in six regions across the country, including Hapcheon, Buyeo, Chungnam, and Hwasun, South Jeolla, yesterday.

(Video Interview: Jeong Kyung-moon and Yang Ji-hoon, Video Editing: Hwang Ji-young)