A fire broke out on the morning of the 16th at a paint plant in Naedong, Ojeong District, Bucheon, and a Level 2 response was issued. 1 firefighter was in cardiac arrest and 1 critically injured, and the number of injured is 7 or 8 depending on the report. Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that there were 100 containers of flammable materials but no fire safety inspection.
It touches both firefighter safety and the system for checking hazardous workplaces.
If you live near the plant, check local government notices for guidance on smoke and hazardous substances.
Let's first ask whether there was an inspection before the fire.
Yonhap, Kyunghyang Shinmun
Bucheon paint plant blaze: firefighter in cardiac arrest, another critically hurt… the fire came, but no safety inspection had been done
A firefighter collapsed while fighting a fire at a paint plant in Bucheon, Gyeonggi, on the morning of the 16th. There were 100 containers of flammable materials on site, but a report said there was no record of a fire safety inspection.
A large fire broke out around 8:38 a.m. on the 16th at a metal-parts paint plant in Naedong, Ojeong District, Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. Fire authorities soon issued a Level 2 response. Yonhap reported at 10:39 a.m. that 3 firefighters were injured and 1 was in cardiac arrest, and at 11:14 a.m. it ran a bulletin saying the injured firefighters had risen to 5. A later roundup put it at 1 firefighter in cardiac arrest and 1 critically injured, with 7 injured in all. In the afternoon Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that 8 people, including firefighters and police, were seriously or slightly hurt. The one-person gap between the two outlets appears to come from the count changing over time or from a different scope of inclusion, and which is the final figure has not yet been confirmed.
The issue is not what happened after the fire but what came before it. Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that although 100 containers of flammable materials were on site, no fire safety inspection had been carried out at this plant. Because a paint plant uses organic solvents, once a fire starts, smoke and heat spread quickly and the smell of burning drifts all the way to the access road. A Kyunghyang Shinmun reporter described a pungent smell of burning from the plant's access road onward. However, whether the plant was not subject to inspection or was subject but skipped has so far appeared in only one outlet's report and has not been confirmed elsewhere. The cause of the fire and whether the flammable materials were stored as required can be known only after an investigation and a joint inspection.
Politicians reacted at once. At the opening ceremony of the 107th National Sports Festival at Jeju World Cup Stadium the same day, President Lee Jae-myung said in his commemorative address that it is a regrettable reality that treatment and compensation for firefighters are not sufficient, and that he hopes the firefighter hovering between life and death will recover soon. Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae canceled her scheduled events, visited the scene and said she would give maximum support for treatment and recovery. Kyunghyang Shinmun also reported a view that her visit was made with the so-called ‘fire service straw’ controversy in mind, but that is the outlet's own interpretation.
There are three things to watch: the condition of the firefighter taken away in cardiac arrest, the cause of the fire to be established by the joint inspection, and how to close the gap in safety inspections at workplaces that handle flammable materials. Because the treatment of firefighters is raised after every individual accident, the key is whether this time too it leads to a discussion of the compensation system.
By the numbers
Word of the day
Level 2 responseFire serviceA stage reached when a fire is large enough that personnel and equipment from neighboring fire stations are mobilized as well.