<Anchor>

The big fire at Hankook Tire's Daejeon plant last night (12th) was only managed to be contained at about 13 a.m. today, 11 hours later. There is still a smell of burning tires at the site, making it difficult to breathe. Let's go to the field.

Reporter Lee Yong-sik, you can still see a fire truck spraying water behind this reporter, so it seems that the fire has not been extinguished yet.

<Reporter>

Yes.

I'm in front of a factory that caught fire.

It's been about 19 hours since the fire started, but the area near the fire site is still covered with smoke and a pungent smell, making it difficult to breathe.

The raging flames began to subside around 7 a.m. as nine firefighters and forest helicopters poured water incessantly upstream of the Geumgang.

Fire authorities completed the initial call around 9 a.m. and lowered the emergency response from the highest level of level 11 to level 3.

The fire started around 2:10 p.m. last night in the middle of Hankook Tire's Daejeon Plant 10.

This is where the curing process works to apply heat to the rubber to shape the tire.

The fire spread to both sides of the plant, burning more than 2,2 square meters of Plant 8 and burning 7,21 tires.

Ten employees were treated at the hospital for inhaling smoke from the fire, and one firefighter also injured his ankle.

Chungcheong, North Jeolla and Ulsan, as well as the Central 10 Rescue Headquarters, were mobilized, and 1 manpower and 119 pieces of equipment were deployed to extinguish the fire.

The factory that caught fire was prefabricated panel, strong winds, and rubber combustibles made it more difficult to contain the flames.

In addition, the high-capacity tarpaulin, which is an evolutionary equipment, came from Ulsan, so the initial response was delayed.

Fire authorities decided to put out the fire completely and investigate the exact cause of the fire and the extent of the damage.

<Anchor>
right next to the factory where the
fire occurred, there were a lot of apartments, and there was also a railroad track, which added to the chaos.

<Reporter
>
Yes.

In the immediate vicinity of the fire site, apartment complexes are clustered and the KTX elevated track passes.

As the flames intensified, more than 750,158 apartment residents were ordered to evacuate, and residents who were startled by the flames and black smoke stayed awake and anxious throughout the night.

Heavy flames threatened the KTX elevated track, and at one time some Gyeongbu Line KTX and SRT trains turned around on the regular tracks, but they have been operating normally since 2:6 a.m.

Vehicle traffic on the Gyeongbu Expressway to the Sintanjin interchange and the Namcheongju interchange was also closed and released around 30:5 a.m.

Four elementary and high schools within a one-kilometer radius of the fire site have also been suspended from school.

(Video Interview: Kim Min-chul)