A Large Fire in Guryong Village, Gangnam Forces Five Hundred Residents to Evacuate

Firefighters try to control a large fire that broke out in Zone 4 of Guryong Village in Gaepo-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the morning of January 20. They evacuated 450-500 residents that morning. Yonhap News

Firefighters are currently trying to control a fire that broke out in Zone 4 of Guryong Village in Gaepo-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul at 6:27 a.m. January 20. Fire authorities issued a level-1 response at 6:39 a.m. Friday, raised it to level-2 at 7:26 a.m., and adjusted it back to level-1 at 9:16 a.m.

The National Fire Agency announced that they have yet to identify the cause of the fire, which forced over five hundred residents in zones 4-6 of Guryong Village (478 Yangje-daero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul) to evacuate. About thirty of the residents who lost their homes in the fire were gathered in Guryong Middle School. There are approximately 666 households living in Guryong Village.

Forty homes in Zone 4 are believed to have been destroyed in the fire so far. There were no human injuries.

The fire authorities dispatched 170 firefighters, 53 pieces of equipment and seven firefighting helicopters to put out the fire. Nam Hwa-young, the acting commissioner general of the National Fire Agency, visited the scene of the fire at 8 a.m., checked the evacuation of residents with mobility challenges, such as the elderly and disabled, and instructed officials to take quick action.

The fire agency explained, “We are concentrating all our efforts to prevent the fire from spreading by inputting all available helicopters and maximum personnel,” and announced, “We will cooperate with related agencies to provide aid for people who lost their homes.

Firefighters try to control a big fire that broke out in Zone 4 of Guryong Village in Gaepo-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the morning of January 20. Courtesy of the National Fire Agency

The city of Seoul sent out an emergency text message asking nearby residents to quickly evacuate and move their vehicles. Fire authorities established an expanded defense line against the fire in zones 2, 4, and 6 to prevent any secondary damage in areas near the fire.

Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min spoke on the fire and gave emergency instructions. He asked his officials to concentrate all efforts on controlling the fire and rescuing lives by mobilizing all administrative power including the local governments--Seoul and Gangnam-gu--and the fire agency and the police and to do their utmost in securing the safety of the firefighters.