Fire authorities and police launched a joint on-site inspection on the 28th to determine the cause of the fire at Coupang's 32nd logistics center in Seoknam-dong, Seohae District, Incheon, which took more than four days just to bring under control.
Starting at 10 a.m. that day, about 40 specialists from related organizations formed a joint investigation team, including Researchers from the Incheon Fire Headquarters, the forensic science unit of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, the National Forensic Service, and the Korea Electrical Safety Corporation (KESCO). Before fully entering, they held a preliminary meeting in front of the logistics center, then donned protective gear such as hard hats, gathered forensic equipment, and moved inside.
The focus of this investigation is to pinpoint exactly where the first spark occurred. The joint inspection team plans to concentrate its search on the sixth floor of the building, identified as where the flames began, and sort through the remaining stored items to see if any are likely to have caused ignition.
The person who first witnessed and reported the fire said, "A fire broke out on the first level of the mezzanine (multi-level storage structure) on the sixth floor of the logistics center." Fire authorities also believe the blaze likely first caught on items stored on a three-tier storage rack (rack) installed on the sixth floor. In addition, the investigation team plans to comprehensively determine why the fire that started on the sixth floor spread in an instant to the seventh floor above, as well as the precise amount of property damage.
Police also summoned Coupang's operations personnel for witness interviews to confirm what happened at the time. They are also taking steps to secure closed-circuit (CC) TV footage that would have captured the initial ignition moment.
Earlier, a major fire broke out at the Coupang logistics center at about 6:54 a.m. on the 18th. After issuing the national firefighting mobilization order, fire authorities fully extinguished the blaze on the afternoon of the 22nd, about 109 hours and 40 minutes after it started. Aside from two firefighters who received hospital treatment for smoke inhalation and exhaustion, there were no other casualties.