Gwangju: Firefighters on Sunday successfully contained the main blaze of a fire at Kumho Tire's plant in Gwangju, nearly 32 hours after it ignited. Authorities extinguished the primary fire at 2:50 p.m., which had erupted Saturday morning at the factory's plant No. 2 in Gwangju, located approximately 270 kilometers south of Seoul.
According to Yonhap News Agency, firefighters have managed to contain about 90 to 95 percent of the entire fire and expect to fully extinguish it before 5 p.m. Following this progress, authorities have downgraded the firefighting response to level 1, after previously issuing a nationwide mobilization order.
Around 460 personnel and 170 pieces of equipment were deployed to combat the fire. Authorities suspect that the blaze may have originated from equipment used for heating raw rubber. In their efforts to control the fire at the 140,000-square-meter facility, firefighters installed water cannon systems and used 18 vehicles to spray firefighting foam on the burning raw rubber to cut off the oxygen supply and suppress the flames.
Kumho Tire has temporarily halted production at the plant, with estimates indicating that about 50-60 percent of plant No. 2 has been damaged by the fire. Kumho Tire CEO Jung Il-taik expressed his apologies for the incident and pledged to undertake comprehensive recovery efforts. He emphasized the company's commitment to minimizing inconvenience to local residents who have been evacuated and assured that extinguishing the fire remains the top priority.
Currently, 132 residents from nearby apartments are staying in a shelter at Kwangju Women's University as a precautionary measure.