A series of fires blazed the eastern cities in Gangwon Provinces from April 4th to early 6th, forcing more than 4,000 people to flee their homes, and killing one person. About 250 hectares of forest was burnt down in Goseong and 25 hectares in Inje.

To contain the fire and help with evacuations, 50 firefighting and military helicopters, 870 fire trucks and 13,000 firefighters from all over the country have been deployed under highest level alert - level three.

The authorities are looking into the exact cause. The state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation announced that the fire seemed to have been sparked by a power switch at a gas station in Goseong. The experts suspect that the dry air and strong wind got the spark grown into the massive fire rapidly along neighbored pine trees.