South Korea has declared a state of emergency in five cities on the eastern coast after wildfires ripped through the region, leaving one person dead, 35 injured and forcing at least 4,800 people to evacuate their homes.

More than 17,000 firefighters - including military personnel using helicopters - have been deployed to fight the blazes, which the local government in the city of Goseong described as an “unprecedented disaster.”

The fire broke out when a transformer on a telephone pole exploded alongside a road in a rural area of Goseong, 100 miles north-east of Seoul, on Thursday evening. Fanned by strong winds, the initial blaze spread rapidly and by dawn had scorched around 1,300 acres of woodland and destroyed more than 300 homes and other buildings, including schools and nursing homes.

The fire also engulfed parts of the popular coastal resorts of Sokcho and Gangneung.

“It was like the end of days”, an elderly woman from Sokcho told the JoongAng Daily newspaper. “All we could do was watch our houses from afar as the fire jumped this way and that in winds that were so strong that they would lift people up”.

Another resident said, “The flames were so huge that the entire city was lit up as if it was daytime”.