Fire at Hyundai Steel indoor battery storage system, Incheon, South Korea
EIR-0132In 2022, a fire was reported in the early morning at an indoor battery energy storage system installed at the Hyundai Steel facility in Incheon, South Korea. The system was used to charge overnight and discharge during the day for energy shifting. Crews from several fire stations attended and an escalated multi-agency response was declared shortly after the initial call. The fire was contained by responders and one firefighter was reported injured during the response. Reporting at the time indicated that around one percent of the installed battery capacity was damaged. No fatalities were reported, and the cause was not disclosed in the available reporting. The battery system was supplied by Samsung SDI.
Not reported in available sources.
- Where battery storage is installed indoors at an industrial site, specify detection, suppression and ventilation arrangements sized for a thermal runaway and gas build up scenario, and confirm they remain valid if the site use or duty cycle changes.
- Agree escalated multi-agency response arrangements with the local fire service before energisation, including site access, isolation points, water supply and the conditions under which additional resources are called.
- Provide early detection and rack or module level isolation so that a failure confined to a small share of installed capacity can be identified and separated before it propagates.
- Record and review responder injuries and near misses from battery incidents, and feed the findings back into site pre-plans and responder briefings.
Published 2026-09-07. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.