A fire broke out on the 11th at the PJK logistics center (Pyeongtaek 1 Center) in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, prompting the issuance of the national firefighting mobilization order. The national firefighting mobilization order is issued by the National Fire Agency commissioner when it is deemed difficult to respond to a disaster with firefighting resources in the affected area alone.
PJK's Pyeongtaek 1 Center is known as a dedicated storage facility for hazardous materials and toxic chemicals that has the largest scale among domestic single business sites in the special logistics sector.
According to PJK's website, the site area of this facility is 26,793㎡ (about 8,100 pyeong), and the total floor area is 9,214㎡ (about 2,700 pyeong). It consists of six warehouse buildings and one administration building.
Each warehouse building measures 937㎡ (284 pyeong) to 1,741㎡ (528 pyeong). It is equipped with freezing, cold storage, temperature-controlled, and dehumidifying facilities, and stores class 4 hazardous materials and toxic chemicals. Under the Hazardous Materials Safety Control Act, class 4 hazardous materials are flammable liquids, including specially flammable materials, petroleum types 1–4, and alcohols.
It was found that the hazardous materials storage warehouse where the fire occurred contained about 1.91 million liters (ℓ) of chemicals, including around 100 types of class 4 hazardous materials.
The fire report was received at about 12:03 a.m. that day through the automatic fire alarm system. The response level was once raised to level 2, but after the main blaze was brought under control, it was lowered to level 1 at 5:16 a.m. the same day. However, the national firefighting mobilization order remains in effect.
Fire authorities said there have been no casualties so far. They plan to investigate the exact scale of the fire damage and the cause of ignition as soon as the firefighting is completed.