Between 2013 and 2022, 1,399 fires were reported in underground parking lots, with 611 of these incidents (47.7 percent) involving vehicles. Among these vehicle fires, 324 cases (53 percent) were attributed to electrical issues such as overloads, overcurrents, and short circuits. An additional 24 percent were linked to car battery failures, while 18 percent were due to mechanical malfunctions.
Fires in underground parking lots present tougher challenges, primarily due to poor visibility caused by smoke and the lack of adequate firefighting facilities in many EV-equipped parking areas. The report also highlighted that some sprinklers in these areas were found to be non-functional.
This report comes amid growing concerns about the safety of EVs in underground parking lots, following a recent massive fire in Incheon that devastated an apartment complex.
The fire, which originated from a Mercedes-Benz EQE 250 EV parked on the first basement level of a 2017-built apartment complex housing approximately 1,580 households, quickly spread to nearby vehicles. Smoke and fumes infiltrated the apartment buildings through vents and stairwells, leading to the dispatch of 177 firefighters. Fortunately, all residents were safely evacuated.
However, the aftermath of the fire left many residents stranded in temporary shelters, as electricity and water were cut off to around 480 homes amid a summer heatwave. A total of 140 cars in the underground parking lot were destroyed, and even homes that were not directly damaged by the fire were covered in soot from the smoke that entered through the ventilation systems.
The local Seo District government is working to restore electricity, but residents will need to remain in shelters longer while the damaged buildings undergo structural safety inspections due to exposure to extreme heat, which exceeded 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,732 degrees Fahrenheit). The Incheon emergency headquarters later revealed that firefighters struggled to control the EV fire because the water sprinklers were not operational.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
