The auto parts plant in Daejeon that burned on March 20 had caught fire seven times before. Fourteen employees died in the latest blaze and 60 others were seriously or moderately hurt, and the city’s fire headquarters said on March 24 that dust and oil residue explain most of the earlier outbreaks at the plant, run by Safety Industry.
The fire in Munpyeong-dong, in the city’s Daedeok District, began at about 1:17 p.m. and took 10 hours and 30 minutes to put out.
Seven earlier fires
Daejeon Fire Headquarters counted seven fires at the company between 2009 and 2023. In six of them, heat or sparks from the work itself set off grease and dust sitting inside collectors and ducts.
In January 2009, oil residue in a ceiling duct caught fire from the heat of a forging machine. In April 2012, sparks from forging lit dust in a collection pipe. Friction heat ignited dust inside collectors in January 2017 and again in July 2019. Two fires came in 2023. In May, sparks dropped onto sludge while a collector duct was being cleaned. In June, sparks from a laser welder travelled through a collector.
The seventh, in September 2020, was suspected to have started with a cigarette butt.
What the inspections showed
Given its size and its work processes, the company must carry out two kinds of in-house inspection, comprehensive and operational. It reports the results to fire authorities, then fixes any defects itself and has the repairs confirmed.
Fire authorities found a gap in that system. The company’s 32 inspection items had nothing on cleaning up oil residue and cutting-fluid vapors, and nothing on improving ventilators or dust collection equipment. Dozens of problems were also flagged every year.
Last year’s comprehensive inspection turned up 22 defective locations: one fire extinguishing facility, 14 alarm facilities and seven evacuation and rescue facilities. The operational inspection flagged another 22, made up of three extinguishing facilities, 17 alarm facilities and two evacuation and rescue facilities.
Most of the extinguishing citations involved weak pressure in the pump room that feeds water to the indoor fire hydrants. Inspectors also noted a heat detector on the first floor that had fallen and no longer worked, and corridor guide lights in poor condition. Many of the machining lines on the first floor had faulty smoke detectors and were marked for replacement.
