POSCO Pohang Steelworks, a big fire...Get out of here in five hours.

At around 4:20 a.m. today, a fire broke out at POSCO Pohang Steelworks,
"10km away, strong vibration...Explosive sounds have been issued several times by the
Fire Department, 'Response Phase 1'...Completely exhausted in 5 hours.

[Anchor]
A big fire broke out at POSCO Pohang Steelworks in Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do early this morning and was extinguished in five hours.

Fire authorities issued the first stage of response and started extinguishing the fire, which was difficult due to the strong fire.

I'm connecting you to the reporter's phone, reporter Heo Sung-joon!

Please tell me about the fire extinguishing situation.

[Reporter]
Yes, the fire broke out at POSCO Pohang Steelworks in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, at around 4:20 a.m. today.

The flames soared with three loud explosions.

If you look at the report screen of Pohang citizens who came into YTN, you can see smoke rising along with flames around the factory.

The informants said that even though it was 10 kilometers away from POSCO, the windows were vibrating enough to shake at the time of the explosion.

Let's listen to it for ourselves.

[Seo Jae-min / POSCO Fire Witness: I heard explosions five or six times, so I woke up and saw that there was a lot of fire. The explosion was loud, so I think it was a little louder than the sound of thunder.]

[Posco Fire Witness] I woke up when I heard an explosion while I was sleeping. I thought there was an earthquake. So I looked at it, at first, flames were rising and smoke was rising. It will take about 30 minutes by car (to the fire).]

Within 30 minutes of receiving the report, the fire department issued the first stage of response to mobilize all the personnel of the competent fire department.

Two hours and 20 minutes later, the big fire was put out at 6:40 a.m., and five hours later, at 9:20 a.m., it was declared to be completely extinguished.

The fire started at the '3 Finex Factory' in Pohang Steelworks.

It was difficult to evolve because the factory was 50m high and there were many flammable substances.

One employee in the factory was taken to a hospital with burns to his face and hands.

Eight people were working at the scene at the time of the fire, but all others were evacuated, so there were no other casualties.

In a call with YTN, POSCO said it will establish a recovery plan after identifying the exact cause of the fire and property damage.

In addition, he explained that he will maintain overall production by increasing operations in the remaining blast furnaces except for the FINEX facility that caught fire.

After preserving the scene of the accident, the police asked the National Forensic Service to examine the cause of the fire.

We plan to conduct a inspection of the National Forensic Service as early as tomorrow and investigate facility abnormalities, worker negligence, and damage details based on the results.

So far, I'm Heo Sung-joon of YTN at the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Report Headquarters.