Fire breaks out at a waste warehouse of Samsung plant in Tianjin, Feb. 8, 2017. (Photo/Beijing Youth Daily)
(ECNS) -- Samsung China said the minor fire at a waste warehouse in Tianjin was not caused by lithium batteries as speculated.
The warehouse of Samsung SDI Co in Wuqing District of North China's Tianjin Municipality caught fire on Wednesday morning, the local public security bureau said, adding that no one was hurt.
The fire started at about 6:17 a.m., and was put out by 7:55 a.m. after nineteen fire trucks and about 110 firefighters were sent to the site.
Samsung SDI Co is a supplier of batteries to explosion-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones. There have been reports lithium batteries and some semi-produced batteries in the plant sparked the fire.
The conjecture was quickly denied by Samsung, which argued that discarded articles may have triggered the fire, but details and damages were not clear.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Samsung SDI has invested in many Chinese cities, including Tianjin, Hefei, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Xi'an. The company also operates across Asia as well as in western countries and regions. It manufactures about 25 varieties of batteries, with the company's monthly product total hitting 11 million. It is one of the major battery suppliers for smartphone producers such as Nokia, Apple and Samsung Electronics.
The Wuqing factory fire has drawn people's attention back to explosion-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones. According to analysis from Nomura Securities, about 65 percent of batteries used on Galaxy Note 7 smartphones were made by Samsung SDI Co, with others supplied by Chinese battery producer ATL.
