A fire that broke out on a mountain in the southeastern city of Daegu on Monday around 2 p.m. spread to nearby villages and burned over 151 hectares of forest, displacing over 5,600 people.

The National Fire Agency (NFA) issued an emergency response order to mobilize available personnel and equipment from neighboring regions about two hours after the blaze started.

Firefighters extinguished some 19 percent of the blaze as of 7:30 p.m. but the flames were spreading quickly due to dry conditions and strong winds.

Daegu’s Buk District announced in an emergency message that the fire began around 2:01 p.m. on Mount Hanji and ordered residents and hikers to evacuate at 2:56 p.m.

By 5 p.m., 2,216 people living around the affected area were evacuated and took shelter in nearby elementary schools. An additional 3,414 people from 2,164 households were evacuated in the evening, according to the city government.

Forest authorities issued the highest level of a three-tier wildfire response system, deploying some 704 personnel, 29 helicopters and 57 fire trucks for the firefighting operation.

No casualties have been reported so far, but strong winds blowing at 11 meters per second fanned the flames.

A wildfire on Mount Hamji in Daegu spreads toward nearby villages, Monday. Yonhap

As the fire spread rapidly, smoke was visible from the neighboring city of Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, which is 19 kilometers away from Daegu.

In response, the Korea Expressway Corp. blocked traffic to the Buk-Daegu Interchange on the Gyeongbu Expressway at 4 p.m. due to heavy smoke.

Police deployed eight patrol cars to control traffic near the scene of the forest fire.

“We will do our utmost to extinguish the fire as soon as possible,” the forest authorities said.

Ko Ki-dong, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, ordered the preemptive evacuation of socially vulnerable residents and the construction of fire barriers in residential areas.

He also urged the Korea Forest Service, the NFA, the National Police Agency, Daegu Metropolitan City and the Buk District Office to quickly deploy all equipment and personnel available for firefighting operations.