Fire at Suwon electronics plant extinguished after 5 hours

[Anchor]

This morning (11.19), a large fire broke out at an electronics manufacturing plant in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.

The flames were so intense that it took about 5 hours to extinguish, but fortunately, over 70 employees evacuated safely, and there were no casualties.

Choi In-young reports.

[Report]

Gray smoke completely covered the factory building.

Firefighting efforts were initiated using a ladder truck, but the rising smoke quickly spread to the surrounding areas.

Around 9:30 AM today, a fire broke out at an electronics manufacturing plant in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.

The fire started in the production building on the third floor of the factory.

[Kim Gye-seon/Witness: "I was working in the store when, suddenly, there was a loud bang, and people around me said there was a fire. It sounded like an explosion, like a cannon going 'bang bang.'"]

The factory where the fire occurred is behind me.

Thick smoke has filled the surrounding area.

The fire department issued a Level 1 response, concentrating nearby firefighting personnel and equipment just 14 minutes after it was reported, and completely extinguished the fire in about 5 hours.

The over 70 employees who were working at the time of the fire evacuated safely, and there were no casualties.

Hazardous materials, which have a high risk of ignition, were stored in an outdoor storage area of the factory, preventing a major accident.

[Choi Il-soon/Fire Prevention Division Chief, Suwon Fire Department: "The first flames were discovered from a machine on the third floor of the factory. The hazardous materials were not in the fire area and were stored separately."]

The police and fire authorities believe the fire initially broke out from manufacturing equipment used to make capacitors and plan to investigate the exact cause of the fire.

This is KBS News, Choi In-young.