▲ Fire at the Icheon warehouse

On April 29, 2020, there was a big fire at a warehouse in Icheon. Because of this case, 38 people died, and 10 people were injured. Among them, some bodies were badly mutilated, so bereaved families were having difficulties in finding their dead family members. The clear reason for the fire was not yet found.

The most possible cause of the fire is the explosion during the urethane work. The fire officials said that the conjunction of urethane foam gas and oil mist caused the fire. And, according to some workers who survived in the fire, they said that the cigarette butts diffused the fire. They also said that the explosion and the smoke made many people died. Also, the fire broke out in an unfinished building, so there were no fire protection systems such as sprinklers and hydrants. The fire seemed to start in the second basement, but most people died on the second floor. a worker said that on the second floor, there were a lot of people working for the elevator installation. On May 2nd, there was a close search of the burnt building. However, there was not any clear evidence of the fire.

▲ 38 people died from the Icheon fire

Every year, 1,000 fire accidents happen in construction sites, and people say that this case is similar to the one in 2008. In January year 2008, there was a big fire in Icheon cold storage. In this case, 40 people died because of the fire. The fire broke out because the sparks filled up to the sandwich panel. The biggest problem of that fire accident was the safety frigidity. There was no clear safety education, and the fire officials did not look around the building.

▲ The cause of the fire was not found yet

Through this recent fire accident, the safety ignorance of people has increased, so the safety education should be strengthened. Also, there should be censorship to materials used in construction sites. To prevent fire accidents to happen, it needs a lot of attention and precautions.

May 10th, 2020 by Eugene Jang