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Kumho Tire plant fire fully out, Gwangju seeks relief designations

Published: 20 May. 2025, 17:56 Updated: 21 May. 2025, 14:15

A passerby wearing a mask walks past Kumho Tire’s Gwangju plant in Songjeong-dong, Gwangsan District, as smoke rises from the fire on May 17. [YONHAP]

Firefighters have fully extinguished the blaze that engulfed Kumho Tire’s Gwangju plant as of Tuesday, four days after it first broke out.

Authorities are now investigating the cause of the fire, while the city of Gwangju has requested that the central government designate the area a “special employment crisis zone.”

The Gwangju Fire and Safety Headquarters announced Tuesday that the fire had been completely put out at 11:50 a.m., 76 hours and 39 minutes after it began at 7:11 a.m. on Saturday.

The fire started in the raw materials processing building of the factory’s Plant 2 in the western section and quickly escalated due to the high volume of flammable materials.

Although firefighters had largely contained the main blaze by Sunday afternoon, 200 to 300 lingering flare-ups complicated efforts to finish the job. The fire spread erratically, fueled by tightly rolled sheets of thin, combustible tire fabric, behaving like what officials called “will-o'-the-wisps.”

One employee in their 20s seriously injured their head and back after falling during the evacuation. Two firefighters also sustained injuries while battling the flames.

Thick black smoke rises from Kumho Tire’s Gwangju plant in Gwangsan District on May 17. [YONHAP]

Roughly 65 percent of Plant 2 has been damaged. This part of the facility is responsible for key operations such as mixing raw rubber with chemicals and forming tires. Since the fire, production has come to a halt, affecting more than 2,200 employees.

The plant has a production capacity of 12 million tires a year, generating approximately 1 trillion won ($719 million) in annual revenue. If the shutdown continues, the economic ripple effect is expected to hit not only Kumho Tire’s workforce and its 60 or so partner companies, but also the broader local economy.

Workers are currently on paid standby. In a similar incident, it took tiremaker Hankook Tire around six months to resume operations after a fire at its Daejeon plant in 2023.

Black smoke billows from Kumho Tire’s Gwangju plant in Gwangsan District on May 17. [YONHAP]

Meanwhile, concerns are growing over the environmental and health effects on nearby residents.

As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, 1,831 damage reports had been filed, according to Gwangju’s Gwangsan District Office. Of these, 929, or 51 percent, cited health issues such as headaches, nausea and dizziness. Another 670 cases, or 36 percent, involved soot damage to homes and vehicles, while 232, at 13 percent, involved business disruptions and other effects.

Roughly 67,000 people live in neighborhoods near the factory, including Eoryong-dong, Songjeong 1 and Songjeong 2-dong, Dosan-dong and Sinheung-dong, suggesting that the scale of affected residents may grow.

The district will continue to assess the damage jointly with Kumho Tire until May 28. The company plans to follow up with its own review and initiate direct contact with victims.

A firefighter sprays water to suppress dust and smoke at Kumho Tire’s Gwangju plant in Gwangsan District on May 20. [YONHAP]

Gwangju closed a temporary shelter set up at Gwangju Women’s University gymnasium on Tuesday morning. The shelter housed 249 residents from 137 households over the past three days.

The city has formally asked the central government to declare the area a “special disaster zone” and a “special employment crisis area.”

If the Ministry of the Interior and Safety grants the former, local residents would receive tax and utility payment relief. If the Ministry of Employment and Labor approves the latter, affected workers could receive up to 70,000 won per day for up to 180 days. Employers would also qualify for extensions on insurance and labor contributions.

A fire investigator examines the scene at Kumho Tire’s Gwangju plant in Sochon-dong, Gwangsan District, on May 20, after officials declared the fire fully extinguished four days after it began. [NEWS1]

Investigators are focusing on a possible ignition source inside an industrial electric oven used to preheat rubber. Witnesses reported seeing sparks coming from the oven.

A fire official noted that the area had long been considered a high-risk zone due to the potential for ignition and the accumulation of dust.

“There were frequent sparks in the same area even under normal conditions, and there had been several previous fires that were put out internally,” the official said. “We’re reviewing all relevant details to determine the exact cause.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY CHOI KYEONG-HO, HWANG HEE-GYU [[email protected]]