Tag: fire

What a disaster this has turned into. Why were such sensitive data servers located near lithium ion batteries known to cause fires? Hopefully other governments and businesses are looking at where their cloud based storage is located at in order to prevent something like this from happening again:

The government’s official document storage system has been destroyed in last week’s fire at the state data management agency, wiping out work documents of the nation’s 750,000 civil servants, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

The cloud-based repository, known as G Drive, was among the 96 systems that burned down in Friday’s fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in Daejeon, about 140 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the ministry.

As the system is not backed up externally, all documents stored on the repository have been lost. Government employees have been advised to save all work-related documents on G Drive since 2018, rather than on their computers.

Government branches that have exclusively used the system to store work documents are expected to experience significant disruptions to operations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully this fire can be contained before it spreads into the city:

A fire on a mountain in Daegu began spreading toward nearby villages Monday, triggering the second-highest firefighting response.

The blaze began around 2 p.m. on Mount Hamji in the city some 230 kilometers southeast of Seoul, prompting forest authorities to issue a Level 1 wildfire response involving 19 helicopters, 38 pieces of equipment and 165 personnel.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is a new level of crazy:

The suspected arsonist behind a fatal fire that broke out Monday morning at an apartment in Bongcheon-dong, Gwanak-gu, southern Seoul, was found dead at the site, police said Monday.

The scorched body of a 61-year-old man, the prime suspect, was found on the fourth floor of the 21-story apartment building, authorities said, after the fire was extinguished at around 10 a.m., leaving one dead and six injured.

The suspect, according to the police, lived on the third floor of the apartment building and frequently had fights with his upstairs neighbors due to noise complaints.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but the man started the fire with a pesticide sprayer he converted into a flamethrower. In his suicide note he thoughtfully left 50,000 won ($35) for his mother’s medical bills.

A pretty badge tragedy at this hotel construction site in Busan:

Six workers died and seven others were injured in a fire at a hotel construction site in the southeastern port city of Busan on Friday, authorities said.

The fire started at the Banyan Tree hotel under construction at approximately 10:50 a.m., presumably from insulating material loaded near a swimming pool on the building’s first floor, according to the Busan firefighting headquarters.

Firefighters rescued those trapped inside using helicopters, but six were later pronounced dead. Fourteen others were safely rescued from the roof, while more than a hundred workers evacuated.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Good job by this Army veteran living in Pyeongtaek:

A quiet evening at home took a chaotic turn for U.S. Army veteran Arthur Chavarria when his wife, Kim Dong Young, opened the door on Nov. 1 and shouted, “There’s a fire!” Chavarria was headed for bed that night, but instead slipped on a pair of flip-flops and ran toward smoke rising from an old house in Seokgeun village near Camp Humphreys. “I heard a woman screaming — a really loud, desperate scream,” he told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday. “The moment I heard that, I just ran toward the residence.”

What happened next earned the couple a commendation from the Pyeongtaek Fire Department and praise from Fire Chief Kang Bong-ju. “We would like to express our gratitude to Mr. and Mrs. Chavarria for quickly reporting the fire and rescuing a precious life,” Kang said at Wednesday’s commendation ceremony. When he rushed outside that night, Chavarria saw a neighboring homeowner, an elderly woman, heading back into the burning structure. “I thought, ‘There’s probably somebody in there if she’s going back inside,’ ” he said.

Chavarria followed her in and quickly realized she was alone, attempting to fight the flames with a garden hose. “She was handing me the hose, wanting me to help her put out the fire,” he said. But the smoke was heavy, and he could not let her stay. “She could’ve passed out or worse,” he added.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Considering how most of the fatalities from this deadly fire were foreign nationals, it is not surprising the company is being investigated for hiring illegal workers:

Police officers carry boxes confiscated from battery maker Aricell and workforce suppliers in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday, as they, together with the labor ministry, ratcheted up the investigation into a deadly fire at the company’s factory that killed 23 workers on Monday. Yonhap

The Ministry of Employment and Labor has launched an investigation into lithium battery maker Aricell over suspected illegal hiring of foreign workers after Monday’s deadly fire at its factory killed 23 employees, including 18 foreign nationals, officials said Thursday.

In particular, the ministry is looking into whether Aricell had directly imposed work orders on foreign temporary laborers hired by subcontractors, which is an illegal practice.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This has to be the worst type of fire that a firefighter could try and extinguish. We have all seen the videos of how hard it is to extinguish an electric car that catches fire, imagine trying to put out the flames from an entire factory of lithium on fire:

At least 22 workers, mostly Chinese nationals, were killed in a lithium battery plant fire in Hwaseong, south of Seoul, Monday, firefighters said, in what could be the worst accident to occur at a chemical factory in the country.

The death toll could rise further as one went missing while being out of contact, according to the authorities.

As of 6:30 p.m., 22 workers had been killed, with two seriously injured and six others suffering mild injuries.

Among those confirmed killed, 20 are foreigners — 18 Chinese nationals, one Laotian and another whose nationality is not known, they said.

Yonhap

Here is how the fire supposedly started:

One witness, who escaped from the second floor of the plant, told the Hwaseong Fire Station that an explosive combustion occurred in one battery cell at the time of the fire.

The station said the fire spread rapidly as the battery cells inside exploded continuously, making it difficult for rescuers to go inside and search. At least 35,000 batteries are believed to be inside the plant. 

CCTV footage unveiled by the fire authorities showed a small amount of smoke started from one battery cell and sharply grew to fill the inside of the factory in just 15 seconds

You can read more at the link.