Another Fire Breaks Out at a Coupang Logistics Center... It Took Six Days to Fully Extinguish the 2021 Blaze

[Financial News]  A major fire has broken out again at a Coupang logistics center. The memory of the June 2021 fire at the Deokpyeong Logistics Center in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, in which one firefighter died in the line of duty, has barely faded. This time, flames at the logistics center in Seohae-gu, Incheon, continued throughout the day, prompting the National Fire Agency (NFA) to issue a national fire mobilization order. One firefighter in his 40s was taken to a hospital after inhaling smoke, and the 121 people inside the center evacuated on their own.
According to the Incheon Fire Headquarters on the 18th, the fire started around 6:54 a.m. on the sixth floor of the Coupang logistics center in Seoknam-dong, Seohae-gu. The building is an eight-story reinforced concrete structure above ground, with a total floor area of 299,000 square meters.
The June 2021 fire at the Deokpyeong Logistics Center in Icheon took six days to fully extinguish, and Fire Captain Kim Dong-sik, who had entered the site to search for victims, never returned. Since then, concerns have repeatedly been raised that large logistics warehouses are difficult to ventilate and hard for responders to enter because they store so much material and have complex internal layouts. This fire is unfolding in much the same way.
The firefighting effort has been slow in part because black smoke from burning household goods stacked on three-tier shelves filled the inside of the building. Smoke also spread outside and covered the sky, prompting a series of reports from residents. Fire authorities said it will likely take a considerable amount of time to bring the fire fully under control.
The response level was raised as time passed. Fire authorities activated Level 1 response at 9:15 a.m., 2 hours and 21 minutes after the fire started, and then raised it to Level 2 at around 12:25 p.m. Level 1 means all available personnel from the local fire station are mobilized, while Level 2 brings in personnel and equipment from five to six nearby fire stations. Even so, as the flames remained uncontrolled, the NFA raised the response to the highest level at 3:15 p.m. by issuing a national fire mobilization order.
A national fire mobilization order is a system that allows the NFA commissioner to deploy personnel and equipment from cities and provinces nationwide in the event of a large-scale disaster that cannot be handled by local fire resources alone.
As a result, five cities and provinces, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, North Chungcheong, South Chungcheong Province, and Gangwon, sent additional fire resources. These included 21 special vehicles and pieces of equipment, such as aerial ladder trucks and unmanned fire robots. In total, 142 vehicles and 386 personnel, including firefighters, were mobilized.
There were also injuries. At the time of the fire, 121 people, including logistics center staff, evacuated on their own. However, a firefighter in his 40s who was operating a ladder truck inhaled smoke during the operation, was taken to a hospital by emergency responders, and is now receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Seohae-gu sent a safety alert message urging residents and vulnerable facilities nearby to close their windows and refrain from outdoor activities, saying that large amounts of smoke and dust were being generated by the fire. Fire authorities plan to investigate the exact cause of the blaze and the extent of the damage once extinguishing efforts are complete.
ahnman@fnnews.com An Seung-hyun Reporter