Kumho Tire plant blaze in Gwangju nears containment

Fire authorities said Sunday that the initial containment of the massive blaze at Kumho Tire’s plant in Gwangju was completed, with full extinguishment expected within the day.

With the containment level at 90-95 percent by 2:50 p.m., fire officials anticipated that the fire would be completely extinguished within about an hour and 30 minutes. This is approximately 31 hours and 40 minutes after it first broke out on Saturday morning.

As a result, the fire response level, which had been raised from level 1 to 2 shortly after the fire broke out, has been downgraded to level 1— an alert that deploys all personnel from the local fire station. The higher level 2 mobilizes resources from two to four fire stations, under the command of the fire station chief or the fire headquarters director.

The fire sent thick plumes of black smoke into the sky, fueled by highly flammable natural rubber. Officials said full suppression typically takes around three days at tire plants due to the material’s resistance to extinguishment.

“We’re aiming for at least 95 percent containment today, with full extinguishment possible,” chief of the Gwansan Fire Station Kim Gawn-ho said at a media briefing earlier in the day. He added that crews were demolishing parts of the affected facility, removing metal panels, and injecting large volumes of water using high-capacity hoses and chemical fire trucks. “The white smoke indicates progress in putting out the fire.”

Jung Il-taek, CEO of Kumho Tire, South Korea’s second-largest tire manufacturer, apologized for the incident during a site visit on Sunday.

“Kumho Tire is fully cooperating with fire authorities and related agencies. We’ll conduct a thorough investigation and take steps to prevent future incidents,” he said.

In its responsive measures, the firm said it is urgently assessing and executing plans to transfer the production of the Gwangju plant’s products to other facilities.

"Furthermore, we are working closely with automakers to stabilize the tire supply for new vehicles. With Gwangju city and Gwangsan-gu authorities, we are committed to promptly identifying and fully compensating the damages suffered by residents," it said in a statement.

As of Sunday, 462 firefighters and 168 pieces of equipment had been dispatched to the scene.

Casualty reports include a plant worker in his 20s who underwent spinal surgery and is recovering, and two injured firefighters — one treated on-site for minor burns, the other hospitalized with second-degree burns to the face.

Although the cause of the fire has not been officially disclosed, it was reported that sparks from an industrial oven used for preheating natural rubber ignited nearby flammable materials in the refining section. Approximately 20 metric tons of raw rubber was stored in this area.

A Kumho Tire representative said during the press briefing that the fire impacted the plant's daily production capacity of approximately 3,300 automotive tires. Once the fire is extinguished, it is estimated to take several months to restore and restart the equipment, sources said. In this case, supply disruptions to car manufacturers, including Hyundai Motor Company and Kia, appear inevitable.

Kumho Tire is one of the suppliers to Kia’s Autoland Gwangju Plant and Gwangju Global Motors, a car manufacturing plant established by the city of Gwangju, where Hyundai Motor holds around a 19 percent stake. While the impact of the tire manufacturer’s production gap on Kia’s production is projected to be minimal due to existing inventory, GGM is likely to see delays in exporting the Casper Electric to Japan, as these vehicles use Kumho tires, according to reports.

Kumho Tire plans to shift production to its nearby Gokseong plant in South Jeolla Province, which has an annual production capacity of 13 million units, similar to Gwangju’s 12 million units.

Go Gi-dong, acting Minister of the Interior and Safety, visited the site around 1 p.m. and urged the environmental agencies and local governments to prevent any secondary damage from hazardous chemicals.

The fire broke at 7:11 a.m. on Saturday in the Kumho Tire Gwangju plant’s west rubber refining section. As the fire spread along the densely packed panels and facilities, the total area affected by the fire expanded to the size of five soccer fields. Roughly 400 employees evacuated the scene, and tire production was completely shut down.

The fire at the factory spanning Songjeong-dong and Sochon-dong in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, has resulted in massive black smoke, causing significant inconvenience to residents. Gwangju and Gwangsan-gu have provided 10,000 protective masks to residents of 32 apartment complexes near the factory.