400,000 tires burn as fire engulfs Hankook plant in South Korea

Daejeon, South Korea – Yonhap News reports a huge fire has engulfed Hankook’s tire plant in the central city of Daejeon.

The fire broke out at 10:09 p.m. Sunday at the plant according to the Daejeon Fire Headquarters.

The fire agency said no serious injuries have been reported, but 10 plant workers and one firefighter have sought medical treatment due to smoke inhalation.

More than 750 firefighters have been battling the fire for nearly 12 hours, but strong winds and dry conditions are hampering the efforts, the authorities said.

The agency said the fire is presumed to have started from a tire-shaping machine in the northern part of the second plant where flammable materials are stored.

“There is difficulty with putting out the fire as tires are made from flammable materials,” Kim Joon-ho, a fire official, told reporters, adding that nine helicopters were additionally mobilized.

Around 400,000 tires stored at a warehouse adjacent to the second plant are presumed to have burned, Kim said, citing it as the reason for a huge black smoke cloud.

Hankook Tire suspended the production lines in the Daejeon plant on Monday morning to find what caused the fire and assess the size of damage, a company spokesman said.