🔥 Massive Fire at Kumho Tire Gwangju Factory: Black Smoke Blankets City

Gwangju, South Korea — May 18, 2025 — Firefighters have made significant progress in battling a massive blaze at the Kumho Tire Gwangju factory, with containment reaching 70–75% roughly 14 hours after the fire broke out early Saturday morning.

Massive Fire at Kumho Tire Gwangju Factory: Black Smoke Blankets City

The fire began at approximately 7:11 a.m. on May 17 in the compounding process area of Factory No. 2, where raw rubber and chemicals are mixed to produce tire materials. Initial reports suggest the fire started when a spark ignited inside an industrial preheating oven, triggering a rapid spread of flames due to the flammable nature of the rubber materials.

By 8:50 p.m., fire authorities confirmed that while initial fears predicted the complete loss of Factory No. 2, only about 60% of the building was damaged. Crews successfully established firebreaks to prevent the blaze from spreading to adjacent areas, including a nearby lot filled with finished tires—estimated to be the size of one and a half football fields.

Massive Fire at Kumho Tire Gwangju Factory

Fire crews, including 350 personnel, 15 high-performance chemical fire engines, 9 helicopters, and 2 high-capacity foam cannons, have been deployed under a National Fire Mobilization Order—the highest emergency response level. Officials believe full containment could be achieved as early as today.

Overnight efforts significantly reduced the thick black smoke that had previously blanketed the sky, signaling effective control of the main fire zone. Helicopter-assisted aerial firefighting is continuing throughout Sunday to extinguish remaining hot spots.

Over 400 factory workers were safely evacuated when the fire broke out. Unfortunately, a worker in his 20s suffered serious injuries after falling during evacuation and is currently hospitalized. Two firefighters were also injured, one sustaining second-degree burns during a cooling operation near a waste oil storage tank.

Due to the toxic smoke and airborne particles, 146 residents from 62 households in nearby apartment complexes were temporarily relocated to an emergency shelter set up at Gwangju Women's University Gymnasium.

Helicopters was deployed to extinguish the fire at Kumho Tire Gwangju Factory

In response to the fire and potential chemical exposure:

• The Ministry of Environment has issued a “Concern” level chemical accident warning.
• Measures are in place to block contaminated runoff from entering nearby streams.
• Air quality monitoring is ongoing in surrounding areas to assess potential health risks.

Authorities are currently reassessing the emergency response level based on progress. If full containment is reached by midnight, officials may downgrade the current status and begin recovery operations.

The Gwangju facility is divided into two major zones:

• Factory No. 1 (South Block)
• Factory No. 2 (West Block)

The fire was confined to Factory No. 2, specifically in the early-stage rubber compounding section—a critical phase in tire production where natural rubber is mixed with chemicals before molding. Operations at the entire Gwangju factory have been suspended until the investigation and recovery are complete.

The second day after the fire at Kumho Tire's Gwangju plant

According to the Gwangju Fire Department, on the 18th, as of 8:30 AM on that day, the fire extinguishment rate at the Kumho Tire Gwangju plant was 85%.

📚 Learn Korean Through This News

Korean Text:

"17일 오전 7시 11분쯤 금호타이어 광주공장 내 서쪽 고무정련 공장동에서 화재 발생했다. 고무정련 공장동은 축구장 1개 면적(약 7000㎡) 크기로 고무 20t을 보관하고 있는 곳이다."

Key Vocabulary:

• 금호타이어 (Geum-ho-ta-i-eo) – Kumho Tire (company name)
• 광주공장 (Gwang-ju-gong-jang) – Gwangju factory
• 공장동 (gong-jang-dong) – factory building / factory wing
• 서쪽 (seo-jjok) – west / western side
• 고무정련 (go-mu-jeong-ryeon) – rubber refining / rubber processing
• 화재 (hwa-jae) – fire (incident)
• 면적 (myeon-jeok) – area / surface area
• 보관하다 (bo-gwan-ha-da) – to store / keep
• 약 (yak) – approximately / about
• 발생하다 (bal-saeng-ha-da) – to occur / to happen

Translation:
"A fire broke out around 7:11 a.m. on the 17th at the western rubber refining building of the Kumho Tire factory in Gwangju. The rubber refining building is about the size of a soccer field (approximately 7,000㎡) and stores 20 tons of rubber."

References: yonhap news, kbs news, mbc news, donga news, chosun news

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Keywords

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