Gyeonggi Fire Department Quickly Extinguishes Fire at Waste Oil Outdoor Tank Storage in Hwaseong

[Asia Economy (Hwaseong) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Thanks to the prompt dispatch and fire suppression by Gyeonggi-do Fire Department, a large-scale fire at a waste treatment facility in Hwaseong on the morning of the 17th was successfully extinguished without any significant casualties.

According to the Gyeonggi-do Fire and Disaster Headquarters, a large fire broke out around 8:34 a.m. at an outdoor tank storage of a waste treatment facility in Ujeong-eup, Hwaseong-si.

Upon receiving the fire report, the Hwaseong Fire Station's first response team arrived at the scene around 8:51 a.m. and confirmed massive flames erupting from one of about 100 outdoor tanks (height 12m, diameter 10m) storing waste oil solvents (waste oil) owned by the company.

At that time, it was estimated that up to approximately 960,000 liters (as permitted by the fire station) of hazardous materials were stored in the tank storage. If the initial fire was not quickly suppressed, the fire could have spread to the closely packed other tanks, potentially causing a chain explosion, making it an extremely dangerous situation.

The first response team immediately began fire suppression and efforts to prevent the fire from spreading to other storage tanks. They also communicated safety activity status in preparation for possible explosions. At 9:04 a.m., they attempted water spraying using a turntable ladder with fire extinguishing agents, followed by the deployment of a high-performance chemical fire truck that arrived later to assist in extinguishing the fire.

At around 9:26 a.m., the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters issued Response Level 1, dispatching all fire teams from Hwaseong Fire Station. About 30 minutes later, at 10:00 a.m., Response Level 1 was lifted, and by 10:13 a.m., all flames were successfully extinguished.

The Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters deployed 161 personnel and 92 pieces of equipment for firefighting and related operations that day.

A Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters official explained, "Since the fire at Goyang Oil Depot in October 2018, which caused property damage worth approximately 11 billion KRW including four oil tanks and gasoline, the establishment of rapid fire suppression measures and training for real situations played a very significant role not only in this fire suppression but also in minimizing damage."

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