Fire Still Burning After Five Days, Residents Continue to Flock to Shelters

[Anchor]

The fire at the Coupang logistics center in Incheon has still not been completely extinguished today, the fifth day since the blaze broke out. Entry into the 6th floor, where the fire started, remains difficult. Let's go live to the scene.

Reporter Kwon Min-kyu, smoke or flames do not seem visible from the outside, so what is the current situation at the scene?

[Reporter]

Yes, while flames are not visible from the exterior, residual fire still remains centered around the 6th floor where the fire began. Therefore, fire authorities have mobilized all jurisdictional firefighting personnel to carry out suppression operations.

With the interior still filled with heat and facing risks of structural collapse, it is difficult for firefighters to enter the 6th floor. For now, they are focusing on securing a pathway to the 6th floor while spraying water using high-ladder trucks.

The fire authorities believe the possibility of the fire spreading to the 5th floor just below, where hundreds of robots equipped with lithium batteries are located, is low. However, since hundreds of robots are also deployed on the 4th floor, it has been mentioned at the scene that initial containment could have been prolonged even further under different circumstances.

[Anchor]

Fortunately, the large flames have now been brought under control, but are more residents actually gathering at the evacuation shelters?

[Reporter]

That is correct.

The number of residents at three evacuation shelters, including nearby elementary and middle schools, was around 190 yesterday, but has increased by about 20 to 214 as of 6:00 PM today.

Residents said they came to the shelters due to the smoke and fine dust filling their homes, as well as concerns that the fire might reignite.

[Yang Soon-rye / Shelter Resident: The acrid smell is accumulated inside the house. My throat feels like red pepper powder has been sprinkled on it, burning like it's been scorched, and I keep coughing. It stings and hurts.]

[Shelter Resident: Being at home makes me anxious, so I can only sleep about two hours a day. I end up going outside to walk around and check things.]

As the return of shelter residents is delayed, the Seohae-gu Office in Incheon plans to continue operating the evacuation shelters for the time being.

(Photo: Kim Nam-sung | Video Editing: Lee So-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.