Audit finds firefighters were kept from spraying water for three hours during government data center fire

A fire that crippled 709 major South Korean government information systems was linked to faulty battery-removal work by an unregistered subcontractor, according to an audit released on the 7th. The same audit found that firefighters were prevented from spraying water for more than three hours because officials feared the water would damage the computer network.

The fire broke out on September 26 last year in a computer room at the National Information Resources Service in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. The Board of Audit and Inspection said the work was performed by a company that had illegally taken a subcontract for electrical construction without registration.

During the dismantling of a battery rack, workers shut off only one of its eight power sources. They also failed to properly insulate the cable terminals. A spark then ignited the fire, the audit found.

The battery-removal project followed the 2022 fire at a data center in Pangyo. The National Information Resources Service had moved lithium batteries and other equipment from ground-level areas to the basement as a matter of principle. The audit’s findings have prompted criticism that poor management turned the incident into a preventable disaster. Direct and indirect damage from the fire has been estimated at 351.1 billion won.