We regret to pass on that 2 Firefighters were killed in the Line of Duty today in a cold storage facility of a seafood processing company in Wando County, South Jeolla Province, South Korea

Firefighters were operating, and as conditions worsened, several were unaccounted for.

*NOTE: SEE DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE INITIAL CONDITIONS, ACTIONS & THOUGHTS THEY HAD IT INITIALLY KNOCKED DOWN BELOW.

Following searches, the members recovered Fire Lieutenant A (44) from Wando Fire Station,joe who was deceased. Firefighter B (31) from Haenam Fire Station’s regional unit was subsequently found dead several hours later after being reported missing.

There were 115 Firefighters and 39 pieces of equipment on the scene. The fire started while a torch was being used during paint removal work at the factory.

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According to the South Jeolla Fire Department and Wando Fire Station on the 12th, a fire report was received at around 8:25 a.m. that day from the first-floor cold storage facility of a seafood processing company in Won-dong-ri, Gunnae-myeon, Wando County. Two employees working on the cold storage floor were able to evacuate on their own after reporting the flames.

Seven firefighters who responded to the scene attempted their first entry into the fire location on the first floor, where there were five cold storage units, around 8:38 a.m. The firefighters extinguished the flames inside the storage units and held a situation meeting after exiting.

However, smoke began to rise again from the inner walls of the storage units. The fire authorities decided to deploy an additional seven firefighters for a second entry around 8:47 a.m. to fully extinguish the fire. Tragedy struck three minutes after re-entry. Flammable vapors that had accumulated on the ceiling of the sealed storage unit exploded, causing a “flashover” phenomenon where flames spread rapidly.

Around 8:50 a.m., as intense flames and black smoke erupted outward, the on-site command team leader ordered an immediate evacuation via radio. Five of the seven deployed firefighters managed to escape urgently, but Fire Captain Park (44 years old) and Firefighter No (31 years old) were trapped inside without being able to evacuate.

The fire authorities deployed a rapid intervention team (RIT) for the search and recovered the body of Fire Captain Park, affiliated with the Wando Fire Station rescue team, around 10:02 a.m. at a point 5 meters inside the entrance. Subsequently, around 11:23 a.m., they found the body of Firefighter No, belonging to the Haenam Fire Station Bongpyeong Regional Team, near the entrance. Notably, Firefighter No, who had been appointed three years ago, was reportedly a groom-to-be scheduled to marry in October. Fire Captain Park was the head of a household with one son and two daughters.

Wando Fire Station Chief Lee Min-seok stated during an on-site briefing, “We sent evacuation radio messages three to four times, but unfortunately, the two firefighters were unable to escape.”

The fire authorities stated that the fire is presumed to have occurred when company officials were using a torch to remove epoxy paint from the cold storage floor. The accident site was a two-story concrete structure, but the inner walls and ceiling were finished with sandwich panels and urethane foam, causing the flames to spread rapidly.

Additionally, the panel structure prevented water penetration, hindering suppression efforts, and the accumulation of flammable vapors due to the sealed structure led to a large-scale explosion, according to the fire authorities. The police and fire authorities plan to investigate the exact cause of the accident through a joint forensic examination.