38% of Warehouse Facility Fires in Gyeonggi-do Are 'Human-Caused'... 7.3 Injured and 23 Billion KRW in Damages Annually

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] In the past five years, one out of three fires that occurred in warehouse facilities in Gyeonggi Province was found to be caused by 'carelessness.'

According to the Gyeonggi Fire and Disaster Headquarters on the 30th, from January 2016 to June this year, a total of 758 fires occurred in warehouse facilities in Gyeonggi Province over five years, resulting in 41 deaths, 45 injuries, and a total of 86 casualties. Property damage was estimated at 142.4 billion KRW. On average, 163 fires occurred annually, causing 7.3 casualties and 23 billion KRW in property damage each year.

The cause of fires was carelessness in 284 cases, accounting for 38% of the total. This was followed by electrical causes with 234 cases (31%) and unknown causes with 155 cases (20.4%).

By location, general warehouse fires accounted for 548 cases, or 72.3%, making it overwhelmingly the most common. Other warehouses (143 cases), cold storage and refrigerated warehouses (64 cases), and loading docks (3 cases) followed.

By size, 688 fires, or 90.8% of the total, occurred in facilities under 3,000㎡. Warehouses over 10,000㎡ and those between 3,000 and 5,000㎡ accounted for 35 and 19 cases, respectively.

However, casualties were higher in large cold storage and refrigerated warehouses exceeding 10,000㎡.

By building age, the most fires occurred in buildings 11 to 20 years old, with 123 cases (45.4%). This was followed by 6 to 10 years with 43 cases (15.9%), 0 to 5 years with 41 cases (15.1%), and 21 to 30 years with 38 cases (14%).

By season, spring (March to May) saw the most fires with 245 cases (32.3%), followed by winter (December to February) with 218 cases (28.7%).

Lee Hyung-cheol, head of the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters, emphasized, "Although most fires occurred in small-scale warehouse facilities, casualties and property damage were concentrated in large warehouse facilities. Since fires caused by electrical factors in large warehouses were analyzed to be higher than those caused by carelessness, we will thoroughly analyze the fire status of warehouse facilities, propose improvements to related laws where deficiencies exist, and do our best to prevent fires by strictly enforcing judicial measures when fires occur."

Meanwhile, in Gyeonggi Province, there are a total of 28,266 warehouse facilities, including ▲26,606 general warehouses ▲1,135 logistics warehouses ▲269 cold storage and refrigerated warehouses ▲223 loading docks ▲22 logistics terminals ▲11 home delivery facilities. By size, 27,439 facilities, or 97.1%, have a total floor area of 3,000㎡ or less, accounting for the majority.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.