[Anchor]

A fire broke out at an asphalt manufacturing plant in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, leaving a worker in his 60s with burns over his entire body. Thick smoke and loud explosions raised concerns of a major disaster, but the fire has been completely extinguished thanks to a swift response by firefighters.

Reporter Lee Hwan from CJB.

[Reporter]

Bright red flames soared, engulfing the inside of the plant as thick black smoke billowed into the air.

The fire broke out at around 1:30 PM at an asphalt manufacturing plant in Gwanghyewon-myeon, Jincheon-gun.

Police believe that static electricity caused a spark while mixing toluene, a flammable substance, into an asphalt concrete container at the time.

[Witness: I heard a loud popping sound that felt like an explosion. I was so startled that I rushed out of the office. When I came out and looked behind, there was massive smoke along with flames.]

It was reported that three workers were working inside the plant when the fire started.

As a result of the fire, a male worker in his 60s suffered second-degree burns over his entire body and was transported to a hospital.

As the fire quickly spread to a large amount of flammable materials inside the plant, firefighters issued a Level 1 response about 20 minutes after the outbreak, mobilizing all available personnel and equipment from the jurisdiction to concentrate firefighting efforts.

[Choi Won-seok / Jincheon Fire Station, North Chungcheong Province: We determined that preventing the fire from spreading to surrounding buildings was the top priority, so our command team and commanders made preventing nearby extension the number one priority.]

Although firefighting operations faced difficulties because the interior of the plant was structured with sandwich panels and piled with materials, authorities successfully brought the major flames under control about two hours after the fire broke out.

Police and firefighting authorities plan to investigate the exact cause of the fire and the scale of the damage.

(Video by Kim Geun-hyeok, CJB)

Lee Hwan, CJB