A fire broke out at Costco's Yangjae location in Seoul on Aug. 20 and shoppers had to evacuate hurriedly without knowing what was really going on.
The fire started in an oven located in the grocery section in the basement. In the process of extinguishing the fire, a little water was used to put out the grease fire, consequently causing smoke to billow up from the fire.
The billowing smoke activated the firewall system. Shoppers exited through a fire door, but when the fire curtain wall dropped down suddenly, one shopper bumped into it and got injured.
Costco's Yangjae location did not notify shoppers of the fire and announced that its firewall system malfunctioned.
An official from Costco's Yangjae location said: “It is true that we did not announce that there was a fire. We just tried to prevent a sudden stampede to the exit doors.”
