A fire at the SPC Samlip Siwha plant in Jeongwang-dong, Siheung, Gyeonggi, is believed to have started around key equipment on the sliced bread production line. Police and fire authorities conducted a joint on-site inspection on the morning of the 4th and are treating the area near the bread-making machinery as the ignition point as they look into the details.
Siheung Police Station deployed 25 officials, including the police forensics unit and fire authorities, to carry out a first joint inspection for about two hours that day. The inspection found it highly likely that the fire started around a bread shaper and an oven used in the production process.
However, it has not yet been confirmed whether the fire stemmed from an electrical fault or whether another factor played a role while the machinery was operating. At the time, production was underway on the third floor of Building R, where the fire broke out, and both the bread shaper and the oven were reportedly running.
Police also secured statements from officials who said they "heard an explosion" at the plant and are reviewing the facts. A police official said, "So far, we have called in two plant officials as reference witnesses for questioning," adding, "Witnesses say the flames started first from the machinery side before the explosion sound."
Police plan to conduct a second joint inspection with the National Forensic Service at about 10:30 a.m. on the 5th to determine the cause of the fire in more detail.
The fire broke out at about 2:59 p.m. on the 3rd on the third floor of the SPC Samlip Siwha plant's production building and was fully extinguished at about 10:49 p.m., about eight hours later. During the incident, three workers inhaled smoke and suffered minor injuries, and about 500 plant employees evacuated, with no additional casualties reported.