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Everything You Need to Know About Ulsan

Apartment Fire in Dal-Dong Puts Ulsan in The International News

Around 11:07 pm on Thursday, October 8th 2020 a fire broke out at the Samhwan Art Nouveau Apartment building in Dal-Dong, across from the Lotte Mart. The blaze quickly consumed the 33-story commercial apartment building in a matter of moments due to the heavy winds that night. Immediately, fire crews arrived on the scene and did not stop battling the fire for 16 hours straight.

The miraculous part of this story was that there were  no casualties  that night thanks to the swift action of the first responders and everyone involved. A total of 93 people were treated for injuries resulting from the fire including smoke inhalation. Only about 3 individuals suffered serious injuries that night.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined but residents say that it may have been the exterior insulation that cause the fire to spread so fast up the side of the building. The government has order an investigation as to the exact cause of the fire.

Moments after the blaze hit social media, international news outlets were reporting the blaze. The the CBC in Canada to the BBC and CNN, everyone was talking about the massive apartment fire taking place in Ulsan. Many were hoping that this incident would not turn out like the tragic fire that occured in the Grenfell Tower in England in June of 2017 where 72 lives were lost.

Photo: (Kim Yong-tae/Yonhap via AP)

Images and stories stretched across the globe as the firefighters worked hard to put out the fire. Many of the new outlets reports how amazed they were that there were no deaths cause from this fire especially from how frightening the footage looked.

By late Friday morning, the blaze was out but emergency crews worked tirelessly to make sure that the area was safe. The amount of activity around the apartment block was intense. The Mercedes Benz dealership next to the apartment building cleared out it’s showroom to give firefighters a chance to rest and get a bite to eat.

In the end, while this event might have given Ulsan it’s 15 minutes of fame, the firefighters are the heros here as this could have dramatically different story if it were not for them.