Fully Extinguished After Four Days... Residents Remain in Shelters

[Anchor]

The fire at the Coupang logistics center in Incheon was completely extinguished last night (July 22). It took four days, and due to smoke and fine dust, residents are still living in evacuation shelters.

Reporter Yun Nara has the details.

[Reporter]

The Incheon Fire Headquarters announced that the fire at the Coupang 32 Logistics Center in Seoknam-dong, Incheon, was completely extinguished at around 8:35 PM last night.

This comes four days, or approximately 109 hours and 40 minutes, after the fire first broke out.

While 121 people, including employees inside the logistics center, evacuated on their own, resulting in no casualties, two firefighters received hospital treatment for smoke inhalation and exhaustion during the firefighting operations.

The fire started at around 6:54 AM on the 18th on the 6th floor of the Coupang logistics center, an 8-story building with a total floor area of 299,000 square meters, and spread to the upper levels of the facility.

Fire authorities faced difficulties in putting out the flames due to the large amount of combustible materials stored inside the logistics center and the complex structure of the building. However, they succeeded in containing the initial blaze at 8:00 PM on the 20th, 61 hours after the fire started, and have since been conducting cleanup operations for remaining embers.

Fire authorities particularly focused on preventing the fire from spreading to hundreds of robots equipped with lithium batteries located on the 5th and 4th floors, directly beneath the 6th floor where the fire started.

More than 200 residents are still taking shelter at three evacuation centers, including nearby elementary and middle schools.

Due to smoke and fine dust filling their homes, as well as concerns that the fire might reignite, residents have chosen to stay at the shelters instead of returning home.

[Yang Soon-rye / Evacuation Shelter Resident: There is a pungent smell accumulated inside the house. It feels like chili powder has been sprinkled in my throat, burning and stinging, and it makes me cough. It hurts so much.]

[Evacuation Shelter Resident: Staying home makes me so anxious that I can only sleep about two hours a day. I end up going outside and walking back and forth to check on things.]

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

[Video Editing: Choi Hye-ran]
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.