Fire at Kumho Tire plant in Gwangju brought under control
An excavator removes debris at Kumho Tire's plant in Gwangju, May 20. Yonhap
Firefighters on Tuesday extinguished a massive fire that ravaged Kumho Tire's plant in Gwangju, about three days after it first broke out.
Fire authorities had fully put out the fire as of 11:50 a.m. after it began Saturday morning at the plant in Gwangju, about 270 kilometers south of Seoul.
The fire's main blaze had been contained Sunday, but firefighters had struggled with extinguishing the remaining flames burning various flammable material at the plant.
A total of three people were injured from the fire, including two firefighters and a Kumho Tire employee, who suffered a bone fracture during evacuation.
Gwangju's Gwangsan District, where the plant is located, received 1,236 reports of damage from nearby residents, including 603 reports of headaches, nausea and other physical harm.
About 50 to 65 percent of the western plant of Kumho Tire's Gwangju factory is estimated to have burned down.
The plant in question is tasked with key tire manufacturing processes, such as combining raw rubber with chemicals. Recovery work at the plant is expected to take at least several months.
The fire is suspected to have started due to sparks from an industrial electric oven at the plant.