Firefighters combat blaze at chemical warehouse in Pyeongtaek

A fire ignited at a chemical warehouse in Pyeongtaek, located south of Seoul, on Tuesday morning. The blaze occurred at a facility housing over 1.9 million liters of flammable materials. Fire authorities received the alert at 12:03 a.m. This prompted a nationwide response to combat the fire. The Gyeonggi Province fire services initially escalated the firefighting effort to Level 2, mobilizing up to 80 vehicles.

However, as the situation stabilized, they reduced the response level to 1, deploying up to 50 vehicles. Prime Minister Han Seong-sook directed the fire authorities to mobilize all available resources to extinguish the blaze and search for any potential victims. The warehouse, a single-story building, stored more than 100 types of hazardous materials, including flammable liquids.

Fire authorities intend to conduct an investigation into the exact origin of the fire once the situation is fully under control. So far, there are no reported casualties.