▲ Firefighters battle a blaze at a hazardous materials storage warehouse in Tojin-ri, Cheongbuk-myeon, Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on the 11th.
A massive fire that broke out at a large hazardous materials storage warehouse in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, has been largely contained after about nine hours of intensive firefighting efforts by the authorities.
Fortunately, no casualties have been reported.
The Gyeonggi Disaster and Fire Headquarters announced that it contained the main blaze and declared initial containment at 9:08 a.m. today (August 11) at the PJK Pyeongtaek Center 1 located in Tojin-ri, Cheongbuk-myeon, Pyeongtaek.
Initial containment refers to a stage where the fire is under control and there is no risk of further spread.
The fire started at 12:03 a.m. today in a single-story warehouse building with a total floor area of 937 square meters, one of the seven buildings within the PJK Center.
The warehouse stored a total of 1.91 million liters of hazardous materials, including about 100 types of Class 4 flammable liquids (such as special inflammables and petroleum) and other general chemicals.
Fearing a rapid expansion of the fire due to the chemical substances, fire authorities issued a Level 1 response (mobilizing 31 to 50 vehicles) at 1:32 a.m., an hour and twenty minutes after the fire broke out, and subsequently upgraded it to a Level 2 response (mobilizing 51 to 80 vehicles) at 2:40 a.m.
As conditions did not improve, the fire authorities issued a National Fire Mobilization Order at 3:39 a.m.
Consequently, fire water tankers and chemical response vehicles were dispatched from four neighboring cities and provinces, including South Chungcheong, Sejong, North Chungcheong, and Daejeon.
The National Fire Mobilization Order is issued by the head of the National Fire Agency when a disaster is difficult to manage with the firefighting resources of a single municipality alone and requires the mobilization of national firefighting forces to the disaster site.
Fire authorities deployed 102 pieces of equipment and 255 personnel to the scene, including 28 support vehicles from other regions.
Although the total permitted volume of hazardous materials at the PJK Pyeongtaek Center 1 reaches 12.55 million liters, which could have led to a major disaster, the fire authorities' focused defense successfully limited the damage to only 2 out of the 7 buildings.
As the flames subsided, fire authorities partially lifted the National Fire Mobilization Order at 6:21 a.m. and withdrew 21 vehicles, followed by lifting the response level entirely at 8:30 a.m.
After declaring initial containment, authorities are continuing cleanup operations, including dousing remaining sparks.
An official from the fire authorities stated, "By focusing our efforts on blocking the fire from spreading to adjacent warehouses and surrounding facilities, we were able to prevent the fire from expanding further."
The fire authorities plan to investigate the exact cause of the fire once extinguishing operations are fully completed.
(Photo provided by Gyeonggi Disaster and Fire Headquarters, Yonhap News)
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