POHANG, March 14 (Korea Bizwire) — A fire fueled by underground natural gas, a rare resource in South Korea, has been burning for six straight years in the southeastern city of Pohang.
In March 2017, a construction company drilled a tube well 200 meters underground to develop underground water in a Pohang park. During the drilling process, an excavator was caught in a fire fueled by underground natural gas.
As the fire kept burning, the city government preserved the site and installed glass walls through which visitors can see. The city government turned it into a park named the “Garden of Fire.”
It was confirmed that the natural gas buried under the park is mostly methane. However, studies showed that the size of the natural gas reserve lacks economic value.
The city government installed an automatic ignition system in January 2021. If the fire is extinguished, a UV sensor automatically detects it and sparks a flame to reignite it within 0.5 seconds.
Thanks to such efforts, the fire has kept burning excluding the case of heavy rains such as Typhoon Hinnamnor in September last year.
Image Credit: Yonhap / photonews@koreabizwire.com
