The flame of the fire garden, located in the Railway Forest of Pohang, no longer blazes. According to Pohang-si officials, the flame of the fire garden completely died out on Sept. 27 after seven and a half years of burning and has not come back to life. As one of the landmarks of Pohang, the restoration of the fire garden presents a significant challenge for Pohang-si.

The fire garden was established in 2017 after the flame was ignited by natural gas during the construction. In 2017, the construction of a park using abandoned railroads, now known as the Railway Forest, was in progress. The fire was initiated when a construction company was digging underground to explore groundwater. The fire, which started on March 8, 2017, was originally predicted not to last for long, but the flame did not seem to be extinguished. At that time, the flame was a significant setback to the construction project, but the city officials decided to preserve the flame as a part of the park. The burning excavator was preserved under the name of “the fire garden,” and it has become one of the landmarks of the Railway Forest. 

This was not the first time that the flame of the fire garden faded. The flame faded out intermittently during the winter of 2020-2021 but was restored manually by a torch until the automatic ignition system was established in 2021. It is speculated that the flame faded out because the natural gas channel was blocked back then, but after the establishment of the automatic system, the flame was alive most of the time until September. The recent extinguishment of the flame, however, is due to the lack of natural gas, according to city officials. They also explain that natural gas, although the amount is small, is still being emitted. They added that they are looking into this matter carefully since the continuity of emission could mean that some natural gas is left underground.

However, relying on underground natural gas cannot be the ultimate solution to restoring the flame of the fire garden. In 2017, the city requested the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) and the Petroleum and Marine Research Division to investigate natural gas buried in the Railway Forest. During the investigation, it was estimated that about 22,113 tons of methane gas are underground. They also evaluated that underground natural gas would last for about 5 to 10 years before becoming depleted, which matches the duration it has lasted so far. 

The city understands that the flame from natural gas could not last endlessly and is looking for alternatives to restore its landmark. More specifically, city officials are examining different approaches to restore or craft a flame. Lee Gyeong-Sik of the Greenway Initiative department of Pohang-si explains in an interview with Daegu MBC, that a medium that functions as a kindling could help restore the fire, for example. He added that, while the flame may not be as vigorous as it used to be, the restoration of the flame would carry significant symbolic implications. The city is also examining alternative methods to restore the flame, such as gas injection or sparking the fire using electricity. An important task remains for the city to develop an ultimate and sustainable method to restore the fire garden.