Fire Safety Beneficiaries Gain Attention After Major Fires Including 109-Hour Incheon Blaze

Government Tightens Industrial Safety Standards
Early Response Technology Emerges as Key Factor

With the Incheon Coupang logistics center fire being fully extinguished after 109 hours, the structural fire risks of large-scale logistics facilities and factories have come back into focus.

As the government has recently been strengthening safety standards related to fires at industrial sites, it has become inevitable to expand investment across the entire safety industry. As a result, companies such as Rainbow Robotics, TXR Robotics, and MGen Solution are drawing attention.

According to industry sources, the logistics center fire was attributed to several factors: the use of sandwich panels, mezzanine (multi-layered racks) structures, and logistics automation systems containing lithium batteries. The nature of these structures cause fires to spread rapidly and make it difficult for extinguishing water to reach the source of the fire. There are also risks of metal panels falling and structural collapse, which limit the ability of firefighters to enter the facility.

In fact, from 2015 to last year, 32,149 fires occurred in buildings constructed with sandwich panels, resulting in 175 deaths and 1,719 injuries. More than half of factory buildings nationwide use sandwich panels, and the increasing automation in logistics centers is making it more difficult to respond to fires.

The government has significantly raised industrial safety and health standards, including the implementation of the Serious Accident Punishment Act and a recent strengthening of fire monitoring. Experts believe that as logistics automation expands, the importance of fire prevention equipment and systems for responding to battery fires will continue to grow.

As a result, demand is expected to increase for advanced systems that can provide rapid initial response, including unmanned firefighting robots and remote fire monitoring systems for hard-to-access locations, as well as automatic fire extinguishing equipment.

Recently, Rainbow Robotics unveiled a quadrupedal firefighting robot capable of extinguishing residual fires. Its quadrupedal robot for human search can not only search disaster sites but also open doors, or shut off valves in situations where gas leaks are detected. The company continues to develop next-generation robot platforms through government projects, including multiple projects such as a quadrupedal firefighting robot and a wildfire response robot.

TXR Robotics, a company specializing in robotics and logistics automation solutions, offers a diverse lineup of firefighting and disaster response robots, including fire extinguishing robots, AI autonomous firefighting robots, wildfire prevention robots, drainage robots, and industrial cleaning robots. According to the company, in July its fire extinguishing robot obtained KC conformity registration from the National Radio Research Agency. TXR Robotics’ fire extinguishing robot is designed to be deployed in hazardous disaster sites filled with flammable and toxic substances, low-oxygen environments, and smoke, in place of human firefighters and rescue personnel to extinguish fires.

As Gyeonggi Province moves to establish an AI-based regional integrated fire safety network for industrial complexes and logistics facilities, attention is also being paid to MGen Solution, which is participating in the project. MGen Solution is responsible for the physical AI sector, utilizing its AI fire detection and suppression robot, Alpha Rover. The company explained, "Our system is particularly optimized for rapid initial response, making it ideal for early suppression and preventing spread."

Previously, MGen Solution had filed a patent for a 'system to assess fire risk in logistics centers' and possesses an unmanned AI firefighting system capable of early-stage suppression of lithium battery fires. According to the company, this system offers 24-hour automatic fire detection and suppression, utilizing a lithium battery-specific extinguishing agent with disaster safety certification, reportedly the only such system in Korea.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.