120730 Hundreds flee chemical blaze fumes
Thailand Jul 29 2012 “Building” “Factories”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Web Source: Bangkok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/304922/hundreds-flee-chemical-blaze-fumes
Date: 30 July, 2012
Country: Thailand
Hundreds flee chemical blaze fumes
Updated: 2012-07-30-01:35
The blaze started in the boiler room of the Phoenix Pulp and Paper (PPPC) factory about 3pm, said Treethep Thongnonk, an investigator at Nam Phong police station.
Thick smoke and strong ammonia and chlorine smells engulfed the factory compound, causing many residents living nearby the plant to panic.
About 200 workers working inside the factory and villagers living in a 5km radius of the factory were told to flee, Pol Lt Col Treethep said.
They were moved to a temporary shelter located about 20km from the plant.
Firefighters battled the blaze for about two hours.
An electrical short circuit is thought to have started it. No injuries were reported.
Factory staff who witnessed the incident told police they saw sparks coming from the power lines of the boiler room, where wood is boiled down to create pulp.
PPPC administration division manager Nipaporn Sitthisorn said the fire did not affect factory production or residents’ health as firefighters were able to bring it under control shortly after it broke out.
The cost of the damage is still unknown.
PPPC is a subsidiary of SCG Paper, Southeast Asia’s largest paper producer.
Its Khon Kaen plant has a capacity to produce 240,000 tonnes of paper a year.