Oct. 24 (UPI) — A Thursday night fire destroyed an empty U.S. Army warehouse at the Busan Storage Center in southeastern South Korea.
No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire at U.S. Army Garrison Daegu is unknown.
According to garrison spokesman Phil Molter, mutual aid agreements with the Busan Fire Department helped fight the fire. The fire started at about 6:30 p.m. local time.
As many as 11 fire stations responded using over 160 personnel and 51 pieces of firefighting equipment.
U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement, “U.S. Army Garrison Daegu has activated mutual aid agreements with the Busan Fire Dept. in response to a warehouse fire of unknown origin at the Busan Storage Center. The warehouse is under renovation and empty, and was not occupied when the fire broke out.”
The city of Busan sent text messages alerting nearby districts to the fire.
“A fire broke out at the 55th Supply Depot in Dong-gu and a large amount of smoke and dust is generated, so nearby residents should be aware of window control and safety accidents,” the text said.
A Busan Fire and Disaster Headquarters statement warned of possible danger if the fire spread, because military supplies are stored at the facility.
“Due to the nature of the supply depot, a large amount of military supplies are stored, so if a fire spreads to a nearby warehouse, it can lead to a dizzying situation,” the statement said. “We are working with the U.S. military’s fire brigade to prevent the fire from spreading to adjacent warehouses.”
With tensions high on the Korean peninsula because of recent provocative actions by North Korea‘s Kim Jong Un, the USS Vermont nuclear powered submarine arrived in Busan September 23 for supplies and crew rest.