As a fire that broke out in the data center of the Daejeon National Information Resources Service (NIRS), which manages the government's IT systems, continued into a second day, recovery is expected to take considerable time.
According to the Daejeon Fire Headquarters, at around 8:20 p.m. on 26th, a fire broke out due to a lithium-ion battery explosion in the data center on the fifth floor of the NIRS in Hwaam-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. Fire authorities said they brought the main flames under control at about 6:30 a.m. on 27th, roughly 10 hours later, but they are still struggling to suppress the fire as high heat continues inside due to thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries. Thermal runaway in lithium batteries is a phenomenon in which the temperature rises rapidly as the anode and cathode come into contact because of battery damage, and it can reach up to 1,000 degrees.
Because the building's structure has no windows, heat and smoke could not be vented, sending the internal temperature soaring to as high as 160 degrees at one point, and firefighters are focusing on exhausting smoke to the outside. It was confirmed that all 384 lithium-ion battery packs stacked in the data center were completely burned.
Fire authorities are currently focusing on ventilation and cooling operations. They are separating the battery packs one by one, moving them to a temporary external water tank, and cooling them under water. However, they added that the slow process is expected to delay complete suppression for some time.
One worker suffered first-degree burns to the face and arm in the fire, bringing the human toll to one person with minor injuries. The fire knocked out the constant-temperature and constant-humidity units in the data center, cutting power to all servers. As a result, 647 core government business systems have been shut down.
The NIRS said it plans to secure equipment and restore data on an emergency basis, but it is expected to take time because restoration can only begin after the heat fully dissipates and safety inspections are complete.