Blaze at large tyre factory put out, eye kept on fumes
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THE INDUSTRIAL Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) has ordered a rubber tyre plant at the Hemaraj Industrial Estate in Chon Buri's Sri Racha district to suspend its operations following a devastating fire on Sunday.
IEAT governor Veerapong Chaiperm said the factory’s drainage system was also closed to prevent polluted water leakage, pending the water’s treatment.
As firefighters yesterday continued to spray water to prevent a rekindled fire, the Pollution Control Department’s initial report said that dust and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels in the area had increased but not yet exceeded the safety standard.
PCD chief Wichien Jungrungruang said the officials hadn’t detected volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air at the fire scene, although the SO2 level ranged from 0.0-0.7ppm.
This exceeded the safety standard and could slightly affect nearby communities by upper airway irritations — but the average level in one hour was still under 0.3ppm. He said the department would continue to monitor the air quality there.
Officials also confirmed that water from the fire fighting was retained in two septic pools and would certainly not leak out of the estate.
The fire broke out at about 8pm on Sunday at a warehouse of the 333-rai radial tyre-manufacturing LLIT Thailand (Ling Long) site. It was followed by eight explosion sounds before the flames engulfed five other warehouses in the compound.
The six affected warehouses included four that reportedly stored some 700,000 tyres. Two others were under construction.
None of the 200 workers on duty at the time was injured or killed, although some required treatment for smoke inhalation. Firefighters managed to bring the fire under control by early yesterday morning and continued to spray water to put out the flames.
Sri Racha district chief Pornchai Thomkrajang supervised the firefighters’ operation and was told by factory representatives that they suspected the fire was caused by a short-circuit.
Some workers reported seeing sparks from the warehouse’s main wires falling on to shelves of flammable tyres.
