Acting Fire Agency Chief: "Comprehensive Inspection of Battery Room Separation in Public and Private Data Centers" [2025 Audit]

Parliamentary Audit by the Public Administration and Security Committee
"Access to Building Blueprints Was Difficult During the Fire"

Kim Seungryong, Acting Commissioner of the National Fire Agency, announced that a comprehensive inspection has been launched to determine whether battery rooms and server rooms are separated in data centers operated by both public and private institutions, and that these facilities are now under special management following the fire at the National Information Resources Service.

On October 15, during a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, Acting Commissioner Kim made this statement in response to a question from Assemblyman Kim Seonghoe of the Democratic Party of Korea. Assemblyman Kim pointed out that, although fire activity investigation reports are required to indicate the locations of hazardous and combustible materials, lithium batteries are excluded from these reports.

Yonhap News Agency

Assemblyman Kim stated, "During the fire at the Daejeon headquarters of the National Information Resources Service, it took 54 minutes after the dispatch for the fire department to learn that lithium batteries and server equipment were located together in the data processing room. The reason for this lack of awareness is that the fire activity investigation report for the National Information Resources Service contains no information about lithium batteries at all."

Assemblyman Kim continued, "Even if lithium batteries are not currently classified as combustible or explosive materials under the law, based on the memory of last year's Aricell fire, couldn't the National Fire Agency simply instruct fire stations nationwide to recognize lithium batteries as combustible materials and to assess their status?"

When asked why lithium was not included in the fire activity investigation report, Acting Commissioner Kim replied, "That is indeed regrettable," and added, "Server rooms and battery rooms should never be located in the same space."

Acting Commissioner Kim further stated, "I believe there were shortcomings in the thoroughness of the fire activity investigation reports. We will make improvements so that specific details about high-risk materials are clearly indicated in the reports, thereby aiding on-site operations."