A fire investigation vehicle from the 119 emergency service exits through the main gate of Coupang's Warehouse No. 15 in Hangdong 7-ga, Incheon, on Thursday morning after completing an on-site investigation. A separate fire broke out at Coupang's Warehouse No. 32 in Seoknam-dong, Seo-gu, Incheon, on Saturday and was fully extinguished at around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday — four days after it started. [Yonhap]
A fire investigation vehicle from the 119 emergency service exits through the main gate of Coupang's Warehouse No. 15 in Hangdong 7-ga, Incheon, on Thursday morning after completing an on-site investigation. A separate fire broke out at Coupang's Warehouse No. 32 in Seoknam-dong, Seo-gu, Incheon, on Saturday and was fully extinguished at around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday — four days after it started. [Yonhap]

The Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Headquarters announced Saturday that it will conduct emergency fire safety inspections of large warehouse facilities for 10 days through July 31, prompted by the recent Coupang warehouse fire in Incheon. The inspections aim to prevent a repeat of the Incheon blaze.

The inspections will cover facilities classified as special-grade (total floor area of 100,000 square meters or more), first-grade (15,000 square meters or more) or second-grade (required to install indoor fire hydrants or sprinkler systems) under the enforcement decree of the Fire Prevention Act. As of Monday, 37 such facilities are located in Seoul.

Large warehouse facilities commonly use multi-tier shelving systems and store densely packed combustible materials, meaning a failure of fire suppression systems during a blaze could quickly escalate into a major fire, the headquarters said.

If initial containment fails, flammable goods can ignite rapidly, causing a fire to spread quickly while generating large volumes of toxic smoke — conditions that could result in mass casualties.

In response, the headquarters will spend the next 10 days checking whether power supplies to key fire suppression systems such as sprinklers have been cut off, inspecting the condition of fire doors and fire shutters, and verifying compliance with fire safety plans.

Alongside the inspections, the headquarters will offer on-site consulting covering fire prevention, early response procedures, individual duties within self-defense fire brigades, and improvements to the visibility of emergency exits and evacuation routes.

The headquarters also plans to strengthen fire safety during performance-based design reviews for large warehouse facilities by examining sprinkler water supply capacity and discharge density, requiring smoke exhaust systems in each fire compartment, and securing dedicated spaces for firefighters.

"Through this inspection, we will eliminate on-site risk factors," said Hong Yeong-geun, head of the headquarters. "We will also apply strengthened safety standards from the design stage for large warehouse facilities newly built in Seoul going forward."

The fire at the Coupang warehouse in Incheon was fully extinguished after four days. The Incheon Fire and Disaster Headquarters said the fire at Coupang's Warehouse No. 32 in Seoknam-dong, Seo-gu, was brought under control at around 8:35 p.m. Wednesday — approximately 109 hours and 40 minutes after it broke out.


ken@heraldcorp.com