Taipei: A mountain blaze that broke out on Monday morning in northern Taiwan’s Yangmingshan National Park was put out after five hours following multi-agency efforts involving dozens of fire trucks and helicopter water drops.

According to Focus Taiwan, the fire may have been sparked by a state-run air quality sensor, as stated by the Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters. The device was operated by the National Institutes for Applied Research (NIAR) National Center for High-performance Computing, under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), park officials said.

The fire, which broke out around 11 a.m. Monday near the mountainous Xiaoyoukeng Recreation Area, raged for about five hours before it was extinguished at 4:32 p.m., the Taipei City Fire Department reported. An initial deployment of 72 personnel included four command vehicles, 16 fire trucks, and an ambulance.

The response was later expanded to include five additional command vehicles and eight more fire trucks, bringing the total to 91 personnel on site. Additionally, the New Taipei City Fire Department provided support by dispatching two vehicles and four firefighters.

Furthermore, Taiwan’s National Air Service Corps deployed a Black Hawk helicopter from Taichung City for aerial water drops. The Taipei City Fire Department indicated that the blaze scorched an estimated 50 hectares of land (0.5 square kilometers) in the Mt. Qixing area of the national park.

The fire’s location in a saddle between two ridges contributed to its spread, officials noted. Despite the extensive damage, the Beitou Precinct of the Taipei City Police Department confirmed that there had been no injuries reported as of Monday afternoon. Officials stated that the exact cause of the fire remains under investigation.