The fire at the E-Land Group Fashion logistics center in Pungse-myeon, Dongnam-gu, Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, that broke out on the 15th has continued into a second day. Fire authorities expect it will take more time to fully extinguish it.
According to the South Chungcheong Fire Service Headquarters and others, fire authorities began demolition of the building and mop-up operations on the morning of the 16th and plan to continue working late into the night.
This fire started at about 6:08 a.m. the previous day on the fourth floor above ground of the logistics center. Fire authorities issued a "Level 1 response" seven minutes after the report was received, and a "Level 2 response" about 50 minutes later, mobilizing 150 pieces of equipment and 430 firefighters to battle the blaze. The major flames were brought under control at about 3:31 p.m. on the 15th, roughly nine hours and 30 minutes after the fire began.
However, the firefighting effort has struggled because entry into the interior is difficult due to the risk of collapse. The reinforced steel structures that make up the building were exposed to intense flames for an extended period, increasing the risk of collapse, and concerns about falling debris and subsidence of the basement have made suppression work difficult for safety reasons. Parts of the building have already collapsed, and fire authorities are using heavy equipment to dismantle the building and tear into the structure while spraying water from outside with fire hoses and continuing mop-up operations.
The E-Land Group Fashion logistics center is a large logistics facility with one basement level and four above-ground floors that was completed in July 2014, with a total floor area of 193,210 square meters, equivalent to 27 soccer fields. It can berth 150 cargo trucks simultaneously and is a large-scale logistics facility that handles up to 50,000 boxes per day and 4 million to 5 million boxes annually. The stored volume of items such as clothing is estimated at more than 11 million units.
Police and fire authorities plan to begin a joint forensics inspection as early as Wednesday the 19th, once the fire is completely out. Fire authorities secured closed-circuit TV footage that shows flames on a wall that appears to be on the third or fourth floor of the logistics center. The initial caller, a security guard, said, "I saw smoke on the fourth floor, and the fire alarm went off immediately," leading authorities to view the fourth floor as the ignition point.
The fire occurred before work began, so there were no casualties. The three people in the building at the time, including a security guard, all evacuated on their own after calling 119, according to reports.