Smoke rises from a fire at a Coupang warehouse in Seo-gu, Incheon, on Sunday. (Yonhap)
Smoke rises from a fire at a Coupang warehouse in Seo-gu, Incheon, on Sunday. (Yonhap)

Hundreds of firefighters battled a major fire at a Coupang logistics center in Incheon on Sunday, as heavy smoke spread into nearby neighborhoods and forced dozens of residents to evacuate.

The blaze began at 6:54 a.m. Saturday on the sixth floor of the fulfillment center in Seo-gu and later spread to the seventh floor through the building’s exterior wall, according to fire authorities.

All 121 employees inside the warehouse evacuated safely. One firefighter was hospitalized with a smoke inhalation injury, while another was treated for exhaustion and later discharged.

Smoke from the 299,000-square-meter facility drifted into nearby residential areas, prompting authorities to move 32 residents from 22 households to a temporary shelter at Shinhyeon Elementary School.

President Lee Jae Myung pledged full government support for the firefighting operation and called for measures to prevent similar incidents in a social media post Saturday.

Nationwide mobilization

Fire authorities issued a Level 1 emergency response at 9:15 a.m. Saturday and raised it to Level 2 at 12:25 p.m., expanding the operation to draw personnel and equipment from five to six nearby fire stations.

About three hours later, the National Fire Agency issued a nationwide mobilization order, bringing in specialized equipment from Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, North and South Chungcheong provinces and Gangwon Province.

As of Sunday afternoon, 575 firefighters and 221 pieces of equipment had been deployed. The operation included 28 specialized vehicles, such as aerial ladder trucks and articulating boom trucks, as well as four helicopters delivering concentrated water drops over the seventh floor.

Coupang said it was cooperating with the firefighting operation and providing support to residents displaced by the fire.

“The safety of firefighters remains our top priority,” Chung Jong-chul, chief executive officer of Coupang Fulfillment Services, said in a statement. “We will actively support firefighting operations at the scene while fully cooperating with the authorities’ investigation.”

The company said it supplied 100 mattresses and meals to people staying at Shinhyeon Elementary School. It also provided firefighters with food, snacks and daily necessities.

Dense smoke, combustible goods hamper crews

Despite the scale of the operation, fire officials said Sunday that dense smoke, intense heat and the large amount of combustible material stored inside the warehouse were slowing efforts to contain the blaze.

Authorities said Sunday afternoon that they aimed to bring the main fire under control by around 11 p.m., based on the progress made as of 7 a.m. They cautioned, however, that it remained difficult to predict when the fire would be fully extinguished.

“It is difficult to accurately predict when the fire will be fully extinguished because multiple additional factors are affecting the operation,” Heo Seok-kyung, chief of the Incheon Seobu Fire Station, said.

The warehouse contains a three-tier rack system and large quantities of combustible goods, according to an Incheon fire official.

“High temperatures and thick smoke have made it extremely difficult to secure visibility and allow firefighters to enter the building,” the official said.

Prolonged exposure to heat initially raised concerns about the building’s structural safety. Fire authorities and a structural engineering expert who inspected the site, however, said Sunday there was no immediate risk of collapse.

“The priority is to prevent the fire from spreading further as quickly as possible,” Kwak Dong-sam, president of the Korean Structural Engineers Association, said.


forestjs@heraldcorp.com