Three Firefighters Die in a Fire at a Warehouse Construction Site in Pyeongtaek

[경향신문]

My Colleagues... One firefighter lowers his head as if exhausted, while extinguishing a fire at the cold-storage warehouse in Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi on January 6. Yonhap News

A tragedy occurred at a construction site of a cold-storage warehouse in Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi where three firefighters died while trying to put out a fire.

According to the Gyeonggi-do Fire Services on January 6, at around 12:22 p.m. Thursday afternoon, a Fire Services search team found three firefighters of the 119 Rescue Squad at Songtan Fire Department--Yi Hyeong-seok (fire lieutenant, 50), Bak Su-dong (senior firefighter, 31), and Jo Wu-chan (firefighter, 25)--collapsed on the second floor of the 7-story warehouse building. They were dead when they were discovered.

The fire broke out at around 11:46 p.m. on January 5 at the construction site of a new cold-storage warehouse--a 7-story building with an additional floor underground with a total floor area of 199,762m2--located in Cheongbuk-eup, Pyeongtaek-si. Firefighters contained the major flames in nearly seven hours by 7:12 this morning, but the fire resurged and about two hours later, at 9:41 a.m. authorities issued a stage-two response to extinguish the flames.

A, a nearby resident said, “At around 7:30 this morning, the fire seemed to be under control, but at nine, the fire grew big again.” He further described, “The black smoke covered the sky, and you couldn’t see what was ahead of you clearly.” Fire authorities believe that the fire began during floor casting and plastering on the first floor. Reportedly, there were a large amount of oxygen tanks, LPG tanks, and insulating materials, which were flammable, for oxyacetylene welding inside the building.

The disaster occurred when the fire reignited right below the second floor where the firefighters were putting out the remaining flames and searching for people. The flames quickly grew due to the amount of explosive materials and materials vulnerable to fire, creating a lot of thick smoke and leading to an unexpected situation where part of the building structure collapsed.

The fire first broke out on the first floor, but the flames and smoke were more intense on the second floor. Thus five people were isolated on the scene. Two managed to escape but three did not.

A representative of the Gyeonggi-do Fire Services said, “In the case of the latest fire, it occurred at a construction site of a cold-storage warehouse. We had trouble putting out the fire because there were a lot of flammable materials inside the building.” He further said, “The firefighters who died were all wearing personal safety gear, such as air respirators, but we believe they were unexpectedly isolated due to the quickly spreading fire and the collapse of the building.”

Putting Out the Fire with a Hook and Ladder Truck: Firefighters try to put out a fire that occurred at the construction site of a cold-storage warehouse in Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi on January 6. Yonhap News

■ What Was Done in the Past Six Months? Another Fatal Warehouse Fire

About a year ago, on December 20, 2020, the concrete ceiling on the fifth floor of the entrance ramp for vehicles in the same building where the latest fire broke out collapsed. Five workers crashed and among them three died. Construction was suspended for over a month until January 26, 2021. This meant that construction was behind a month from the original plan. But the building owner and the contractor did not request the city of Pyeongtaek for any changes to the expected completion date.

The latest fire was similar to the one that broke out at Coupang’s Deokpyeong logistics center in Icheon, Gyeonggi, which killed one firefighter last year. At around 5:35 a.m. on June 17, 2021, a fire broke out at the Coupang logistics center and the Fire Services deployed over sixty units of equipment and 150 personnel to stop the fire. The fire seemed to die down at around 8:20 a.m. and the firefighters began taking out the remaining flames and one by one canceled the alarm the authorities had previously rung.

But at 11:50 a.m. the fire began to blaze up again inside the building and the firefighters putting out the flames inside the building were ordered to make an emergency escape and evacuate the building.

However, in this process, Kim Dong-sik (52 at the time), head of the 119 Rescue Squad at Gwangju Fire Department failed to escape. He was found dead only two days later, after the firefighters had completely put out the fire. According to the investigation, the fire surged again after various goods that were piled up including flammable materials in the warehouse collapsed and caught on fire.

Authorities have yet to identify the cause of the latest fire in Pyeongtaek, but if it turns out that they failed to properly take fire prevention measures, leading to bigger damages, the government, as well as the contractor will not be free from their responsibility in conducting poor safety measures.

President Moon Jae-in mourned the death of the three firefighters. In a written briefing this day, Cheongwadae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee announced that President Moon extended his condolences after hearing that the three firefighters missing during rescue operations were found dead at the scene of the fire in Pyeongtaek.

The president said, “My heart aches at the news of the three firefighters who died while devoting themselves to the rescue operation without sparing their lives at the forefront of protecting the lives and safety of the citizens.”

This day, the National Fire Agency announced that they would posthumously promote each of the deceased one rank, award them the Aquamarine Stripes of the Order of Service Merit, and designate them as persons of distinguished service to the state. The funeral of the three firefighters will be held as a Gyeonggi Governor funeral at Ichung Culture and Sports Center in Pyeongtaek on January 8. The three men will be buried in the National Cemetery.