Police Open 33-Member Investigation After Firefighter Dies in Bucheon Factory Blaze

Police have launched a large-scale investigation into a factory fire in Bucheon, west of Seoul, after one firefighter died and seven other people were injured during the emergency response.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police said Saturday that it had formed a 33-member investigative team led by the head of its metropolitan crime investigation unit. The team includes 25 investigators from the serious industrial accident division and eight forensic officers, reflecting the authorities’ assessment of the case as a major workplace and public-safety incident.

A joint inspection began at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the metal coating factory in Bucheon’s Ojeong district. Police were joined by fire officials, the National Forensic Service and the Korea Electrical Safety Corporation. Investigators are concentrating on a thinner-cleaning machine in a third-floor washing room, which is believed to be near where the fire started. They are examining whether mechanical or electrical defects contributed to the blaze.

The fire broke out at 8:38 a.m. Friday in the third floor of a five-story building and was fully extinguished at 11:06 a.m. Two firefighters in the first response team became trapped as flames and thick black smoke spread rapidly. One firefighter in his 40s was taken to a hospital in cardiac arrest and later died. The other suffered serious injuries. Four additional firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion or smoke inhalation, while two factory workers sustained injuries including burns.

Investigators are questioning factory employees about work under way when the fire began and whether required safety procedures were followed. Police said they would review possible charges involving occupational negligence causing injury and negligent fire-setting. They are also conducting a legal review to determine whether an occupational negligence causing death charge may apply in connection with the firefighter’s death.

Fire authorities’ special judicial police will separately examine whether the factory unlawfully stored or handled hazardous materials. About 180 containers believed to hold a flammable petroleum-based substance were found at the site. The factory had no record of receiving a permit to handle hazardous materials, according to the initial findings.

The building housed different businesses on separate floors. It did not have sprinklers because its 362-square-meter building area fell below the threshold requiring their installation. The investigation is expected to examine how the fire spread quickly enough to trap experienced responders and whether the building’s layout, stored materials or safety practices increased the danger.

President Lee Jae Myung expressed condolences over the firefighter’s death and said the government would review safety measures for emergency personnel, address shortcomings and ensure treatment commensurate with firefighters’ service and sacrifice.