Chinese Lantern Causes Huge Fire at Tank Farm

Wind lantern*, mainly used at events to write your wish and float into the sky. ( Source Channel A News Top Ten 10.9 )

This has been a major news item the last couple of days in South Korea, as a long held practice of sending sky lanterns or wish lanterns aloft on special occasions has inadvertently resulted in a conflagration at a major petroleum tank farm in Goyang, South Korea, a city outside of Seoul. The incident has its inception according to investigators as about 80 of the Chinese lanterns were lit and sent aloft from a grade school event at 8pm on October 6. Two of the lanterns landed about 800 meters downwind of the school, at a construction site. The next morning about ten am, a foreign worker at the construction site, found one of the lanterns, relit it, letting it go aloft aloft again, The lantern floated about 300 meters and then descended on the tank farm grounds, which were covered by a dry lawn outside the tank structures. The grass was ignited, and during a period of eighteen minutes the fire on the lawn spread toward one of the tanks and rose up the adjacent revetment surrounding the tank where it ignited the fuel vapors escaping from a small vent. The tank exploded in a fireball visible from far away, and generated flames and a column of smoke visible for miles.

* 孔明燈, 孔明灯, kǒngmíng dēng, (Chinese) Kongming lantern 風燈 풍등 poong deung (Korean) Chinese lantern, also sky lantern or literally, wind lantern. See Wikipedia for an interesting write up on the history and custom of the sky lantern.



( Source JTBC News 10.9 )

The fire burned for seventeen hours and several emergency response teams responded. The fire crews poured chemical retardant on the immediate blaze and many of the surrounding tanks to prevent any other explosions or blazes from being ignited. Launching sky lanterns is not allowed without a permit in Korea and is subject to a stiff fine. Starting a fire with gross negligence is punishable by not less than three years confinement and a large fine.

Authorities investigated all of the videos available from the 46 CCTV cameras available from the petroleum storage facility. The exact time of the explosion is known, at 10:36, Oct 7. The Sri Lankan construction employee can be observed chasing the lantern but gives up when he sees it going into the tank farm area. The flight of the lantern is visible as well. There was a negligent failure of security at the tank farm as no alarm or alert timely issued during the critical 18 minutes while the fire on the ground burned and moved closer to the tank. At least four employees were on duty. The construction employee at the neighboring site, who launched the lantern on its second flight, is the subject of an application for arrest on charges of starting a fire with gross negligence. Authorities are also interested in the safety and management lapses that were immediate factors leading to the explosion and fire.