Home > National > Social Affairs

Fire at Daehan Oil Pipeline Corporation facility contained with no injuries reported

Published: 10 Feb. 2026, 12:43

Fire authorities and police officials are seen at the scene of a fire that broke out at a Daehan Oil Pipeline Corporation facility in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang, on Feb. 10. [KIM JUNG-SEOK]

GYEONGSAN, North Gyeongsang — Fire engines and ambulances moved continuously in and out of a Daehan Oil Pipeline Corporation facility in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang, at around 9 a.m. on Tuesday. A firefighting helicopter, dispatched as a precaution, circled overhead.

Though there were no visible flames on one of the massive oil storage tanks, white smoke continued to rise, and fire engines repeatedly sprayed water onto the structure.

Access to this critical national facility was restricted. At the entrance, employees were blocking outsiders from approaching or filming with mobile phones, and only those affiliated with the company and officials from Gyeongsan City Hall and the Ministry of Employment and Labor were allowed in.

An explosion had caused a fire to break out on the cone-shaped cover of the oil tank at around 7:47 a.m. on Tuesday.

A helicopter is seen above the scene of a fire that broke out at a Daehan Oil Pipeline Corporation facility in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang, on Feb. 10. [YONHAP]

After receiving a report from a nearby witness that “a fire broke out after a ‘bang’ sounded,” fire authorities mobilized and dispatched 104 personnel, 49 pieces of equipment and one helicopter to extinguish the fire.

Immediately after the explosion, the tank’s cover was damaged, and smoke from the large flames shot upward. The black smoke rose high into the sky and was visible to the naked eye from a considerable distance.

The fire was brought under initial control at around 10:12 a.m., about two hours after it started. No injuries were reported.

As around 10 oil storage tanks of similar size are densely installed near the damaged tank, authorities said the incident narrowly missed escalating into a major disaster.

Smoke and flames are seen at the scene of a fire that broke out at a Daehan Oil Pipeline Corporation facility in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang, on Feb. 10. [YONHAP]

Fire authorities have shut off the tank’s oil transfer valve and are urgently moving the stored gasoline to other tanks — a task expected to take approximately five hours.

The tank had a capacity of 3.3 million liters (871,700 gallons) and was about 80 percent full of gasoline at the time of the fire, according to fire authorities. The blaze is believed to have been quickly contained because in-house firefighting equipment at the pipeline facility was activated early.

Fire authorities plan to work with related agencies, including the National 119 Rescue Headquarters, to extinguish the remaining embers and investigate the exact cause of the fire. Police also plan to look into how the fire broke out at the national security facility.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM JUNG-SEOK [[email protected]]