Win Process sees 2nd fire in two days

Villagers fight back as safety fears rise

Another blaze broke out Wednesday night at Win Process’s hazardous waste storage plant in Rayong. The authorities found high levels of dangerous chemicals in the air over the surrounding area.

As of yesterday evening, the fire at the plant, located in Ban Nong Pawa village in Tambon Bang But of Rayong’s Ban Khai district, had not settled.

The new blaze broke out the previous night at Building 3, where aluminium dross was stored.

According to Kanchalee Navickabhum, deputy director of the Pollution Control Department (PCD), there were around 10,000 tonnes of aluminium dross in the building. Such a chemical substance, when on fire, cannot be extinguished with water as that would cause a chemical reaction which would accelerate the fire.

Firefighters attempted to put out the fire earlier using sand and soil but could not stop it from flaring again.

Tossapol Bawornmote, Ban Khai’s district chief, asked the firefighting team of the NPC company based in the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate to send firefighting specialists to help stop the blaze using the F-500 encapsulator agent.

The strategy worked but Mr Tossapol said smoke tinged with the smell of chemical substances still lingered late yesterday.

A few firefighters were injured during the operation, the district chief said, adding the next step would be to get rid of the smoke.

The PCD reported that all combustible chemicals at the plant’s Building 5, where the first blaze erupted, were completely burnt. Only fuel materials such as paper and plastic were left, causing the smoke to likely persist for two more days.

The agency also measured the air quality at eight spots located 500 metres to 5 kilometres north of the plant yesterday morning.

The air around all eight locations contained unhealthy levels of sulphur dioxide, acrylonitrile and hydrogen cyanide, which can cause respiratory dysfunction, eye irritation and skin rashes, the agency said.

The PCD has informed residents in affected areas about the data and advised them to remain at the refuge centre until the situation is resolved.

Some 100 residents of two villages in tambon Bang But submitted a complaint at Ban Khai Provincial Police Station seeking legal action against the PCD’s director-general and the Industry Ministry’s Rayong office for allowing Win Process to keep dangerous chemicals at its plant.