The Wooshin Golden Suites Fire was a fire that occurred at an
officetel
In South Korea, an officetel ( ko, 오피스텔, a portmanteau of 'office' and 'hotel'), is a multi-purpose building with residential and commercial units.
This is a type of studio apartment or studio flat.
An officetel is designed to be a partia ...
in
Marine City,
Haeundae,
Busan
Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...
, South Korea on October 1, 2010. The fire started on the fourth floor, caused by a spark from an electrical outlet, and rapidly spread to the top of the building via external combustible
cladding
Cladding is an outer layer of material covering another. It may refer to the following:
*Cladding (boiler), the layer of insulation and outer wrapping around a boiler shell
*Cladding (construction), materials applied to the exterior of buildings
...
; five injuries were reported.
Fire
* The fire started around 11:34am on the 4th floor.
* A fire engine with a 52-metre ladder was launched, but firefighters could not control the fire because it spread so quickly.
* Within 20 minutes, the blaze had reached the 38th floor.
* According to the ''
Korea Times
''The Korea Times'' is the oldest of three English-language newspapers published daily in South Korea. It is a sister paper of the ''Hankook Ilbo'', a major Korean language daily; both are owned by Dongwha Enterprise, a wood-based manufacturer ...
'', the blaze was extinguished after 2.5 hours, after mobilising dozens of fire engines and a helicopter that dropped water on the building from above.
According to Nathan White and Michael Delichatsios, writing in ''Fire Hazards of Exterior Wall Assemblies Containing Combustible Components'', the original 4th-floor fire was put out by 1 pm, with the entire building fire-free by 6.48 pm.
* Some residents were evacuated by helicopter from the building's roof.
Causes and background
* There was no sprinkler in the 4th-floor room where the fire started.
* The reinforced glass in the windows hindered firefighters.
* The building featured flammable aluminium composite cladding with a polyethylene core, along with
glass wool or
polystyrene insulation; the fire rapidly spread up the facade, reaching the top of the tower within 20 minutes.
* The fire primarily spread up a vertical U-shaped indentation in the building's exterior, which created a chimney effect, possibly enhanced by wind blowing in from the sea.
Casualties
* 4 residents and 1 fire fighter were injured.
See also
*
2017 Jecheon fire
*
Miryang hospital fire
*
*
*
2020 Icheon fire
*
*
Marco Polo condo fire
The Marco Polo condo fire was a high-rise fire that occurred at 2:17 p.m. on July 14, 2017, in the 36-story Marco Polo condominium building at 2333 Kapiolani Boulevard in the McCully- Mōiliili neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii. 4 people were ...
References
{{coord missing, South Korea
2010 fires in Asia
2010 disasters in South Korea
Building and structure fires in South Korea
History of Busan
Residential building fires
Commercial building fires
High-rise fires