Interior ministry's data center agency drills for lithium battery fire

The National Information Resources Service said Wednesday it staged a joint fire drill at its Daejeon headquarters with the Yuseong Fire Station, rehearsing its response to a lithium-ion battery fire in the battery room that powers the data center.

Staff who spotted the simulated blaze alerted colleagues and the center's disaster control room, which reported the fire's location and details to the 119 emergency service while workers evacuated the building and began tackling the flames themselves. Firefighters arriving on scene carried out suppression and safety measures tailored to battery fires, and the agency said it provided access control, on-site guidance and information on the electrical equipment so crews could reach the source. The two sides also walked through the evacuation and crowd-control duties of the center's own fire brigade.

The drill follows a fire at the same Daejeon site in September 2025 that prompted the agency to review how it prevents and handles fires, including safety management of its uninterruptible power supply and battery installations. It plans to keep running regular fire drills and joint exercises with outside agencies to surface hazards that would appear in a real disaster and to sharpen the hands-on response of the staff who run the facilities.

"This joint fire drill was an important exercise in confirming whether related agencies can cooperate and respond quickly in a special fire situation such as a battery fire," said Ha Seung-cheol, head of the National Information Resources Service. "We will continue to strengthen our disaster response system through thorough preventive inspections and repeated on-site training so that the public's important information resources can be protected safely."

The National Information Resources Service, a responsible operating agency under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, builds and runs information systems and the government network for central ministries, local governments and public institutions.