Fire broke out in the energy storage device facility building at SeAH Special Steel Changwon Plant in Changwon-si, Gyeongnam, and firefighters are extinguishing the fire. [Photo by Changwon Fire Headquarters]
At around 8:01 a.m. on the 25th, a fire at the SeAH Special Steel Changwon Factory in Sinchon-dong, Seongsan-gu, Changwon Special City, Gyeongnam, was extinguished after more than six hours.
According to the Changwon Fire Headquarters, the fire that broke out in the energy storage system (ESS) facility building inside the factory burned down one factory building measuring 499.02㎡, the ESS equipment inside, and all 3,997 lithium-ion batteries.
The factory official who discovered the fire activated the carbon dioxide (CO2) extinguishing system on their own and then reported to 119 to confirm the fire suppression.
Firefighters who arrived at the scene conducted firefighting operations as a large amount of smoke was generated while inspecting the inside of the factory.
A total of 101 personnel, including firefighters, volunteer firefighters, and police officers, and 30 pieces of equipment such as pump trucks, water tanks, aerial ladder trucks, heavy equipment, and helicopters were deployed at the scene.
The firefighters controlled the main fire around 12:30 p.m. and completed extinguishing it at 2:13 p.m.
There were no people inside the building at the time of the fire, and since the fire site was separated from the workshop inside the factory, no casualties occurred.
Due to the large amount of smoke and the spread of flames at the scene, Fire Response Level 1 was issued around 9:20 a.m. and lifted around 11:20 a.m.
All office staff at the fire station were urgently summoned, the Gyeongnam Fire Headquarters responded jointly with an unmanned water cannon vehicle, and 50% of off-duty field personnel were also urgently summoned.
The police and fire authorities are investigating the exact cause of the fire and the extent of the damage.
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