Published in News

Foxconn primary iPhone manufacturing plant goes up in flames

by on26 January 2016


Fire is contained for now

Last night at Foxconn’s main manufacturing plant in Zhengzhou, east-central China, a large fire broke out spanning several floors of the building and prompting an emergency evacuation procedure.

foxconn fire 2016 2 january 2016
Source: Weibo.com

Cause of the fire are currently being investigated, according to local Chinese authorities. What is currently known is that the fire somehow originated in the ventilation pipe of the central air-conditioning system on the roof of the factory floor, according to the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone website.

On Sunday night, firefighters and rescuers began containing the incident at Apple's primary iPhone manufacturing plant and eliminating the source of the fire for several hours. Local sources are reporting there were no casualties. Production lines were also not affected.

foxconn factory fire january 2016

Source: Weibo.com (January 25, 2016)

We remain skeptical of the second bit of news about production lines not being affected, however. A short clip posted to Twitter by People’s Daily, China shows several manufacturing complexes within the Zhengzhou plant engulfed in flames.

To put things into perspective, Foxconn’s factories consist of huge complexes that are often compared by some to small cities and even towns. They each include their own housing and dining facilities and employ tens to hundreds of thousands of staff.

Fire at Foxconn Plant in Zhengzhou, China (January 25, 2016)

This is not the first time a large-scale fire has broken out at Foxconn’s facilities. On May 20, 2011 at the Chengdu, south-China plant for iPad production, at least two workers were killed and sixteen injured in a blast due to a dust explosion on the production line. The blast occurred just as workers were preparing to change shifts. During that incident, emergency officials were able to quickly get the situation under control. Several reports claimed that fine powder used on the production line was somehow ignited. The plant, which opened in 2010, cost between $2 billion and $5 billion to build.

foxconn zhengzhou tim cook visit wsj

Wall Street Journal – Apple CEO Tim Cook personally visits the iPhone production line at Foxconn’s factory in Zhengzhou, China (March 2012)

In September 2011, the company has also dealt with a fire at its Yantai, northeast-China facility. This particular facility assembled Sony laptops, PC components and printers, but nevertheless employs over 80,000 workers.


Inside Foxconn’s Zhengzhou, China Plant (May 2012)

Last modified on 26 January 2016
Rate this item
(2 votes)

Read more about: