Factory owner booked over blaze that killed firefighter in Bucheon

The owner of a factory in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, where a fire killed one firefighter and injured seven others has been booked by police.

The Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency's dedicated investigation team for the Bucheon painting factory fire announced Sunday that it had booked the factory owner, identified only as A and in his or her 70s, on charges of occupational negligence causing injury and occupational accidental fire.

A is suspected of failing to take adequate fire prevention measures at a metal injection printing factory in Naedong, Ojong-gu, Bucheon, where the fire broke out Friday.

Police questioned A and four other factory workers as witnesses on Saturday, reviewing working conditions at the time of the accident and the state of safety management, before concluding there were grounds for negligence and formally booking A.

Police said they will continue to investigate A over the specific cause of ignition and whether safety management rules were followed, and will also question other individuals connected to the factory.

Investigators also plan to determine the exact circumstances under which a firefighter became trapped and died while battling the blaze.

The fire broke out at around 8:38 a.m. Friday at the metal injection printing factory in Naedong, Ojong-gu, Bucheon. A firefighter in his 40s deployed to fight the blaze died, while five other firefighters and two factory workers were injured.

The late Kim Jin-seok, a fire lieutenant who was among the first responders dispatched to the scene, went into cardiac arrest and was rushed to hospital, but died Saturday morning.

President Lee Jae Myung visited the funeral home on the day Kim was confirmed to have died in the line of duty and posthumously awarded him the Order of Service Merit with Jade Decoration.

A joint forensic investigation conducted Sunday raised the possibility that the fire started when a spark — caused by static electricity or a similar source — ignited vapors produced during a thinner-based cleaning operation on the factory's third floor.

The site lacked explosion-proof equipment, and dozens of containers holding flammable materials including thinner and paint were found near the point of ignition.