Firefighting authorities brought a large blaze at a Coupang logistics center in Seoknam-dong, Incheon, under control after 61 hours [1].
The containment of the fire allows residents in the surrounding area to return to their homes following a mandatory evacuation order. The duration of the incident highlights the difficulty of battling fires in massive industrial facilities where flammable materials and automation technology are concentrated.
Emergency crews said the fire was largely extinguished around 8 p.m. on Sunday [1]. The effort to suppress the flames took more than two days, during which time the facility suffered significant structural damage. Reports from the scene described the upper sections of the building as charred black, with some walls burned through enough to expose the interior [2].
Investigators are looking into the specific conditions that may have contributed to the fire's persistence. A reporter on the scene said that hundreds of logistics robots using lithium batteries were located on the fifth floor, directly below the area where the fire occurred [1]. Lithium-ion battery fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish and can lead to thermal runaway, which may have complicated the efforts of the Incheon firefighting teams.
Coupang has not yet released a full statement regarding the cause of the ignition or the total extent of the property damage. However, the lifting of the evacuation order marks the end of the immediate threat to the local community in Seoknam-dong [1, 2].
Firefighters used a combination of ladder trucks and high-pressure hoses to reach the upper floors of the facility [2]. The scale of the operation required sustained coordination over the 61-hour period to ensure the fire did not spread to adjacent industrial sites [1].
“The large fire at the facility was brought under control after 61 hours.”
The 61-hour duration of this blaze underscores the growing risk associated with the 'automation' of logistics. The presence of hundreds of lithium-battery-powered robots creates a high-energy environment that can accelerate fire spread and resist traditional extinguishing methods, suggesting that current industrial fire codes may need to evolve alongside warehouse robotics.
