20140627 Thailand Warehouse fire does billion baht damage
Thailand Jun 26 2014 “Warehouses”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Warehouse fire does billion baht damage
Updated: 2014-06-28-06:04
A fire destroyed a plastic pellet warehouse at Bangpoo Industrial Estate in Samut Prakan yesterday morning, leaving no casualties but causing an estimated one billion baht in damage.
A plume of black smoke billows from a large plastic pellet warehouse at the Bangpoo Industrial Estate in Muang district of Samut Prakan yesterday morning. No casualties were reported from the blaze.
Despite huge flames and black smoke rising from the building, experts said the environment and the health of those nearby were not at risk.
Anuphan Ittharatana, director of the Pollution Control Department’s Waste and Hazardous Substance Bureau, said a team had inspected the warehouse and checked air quality in three areas within a 300-metre radius of the warehouse. The tests found sulphur dioxide contamination in the area at 0.1ppm (parts per million).
Harmful levels begin at 0.2ppm. The department also examined volatile organic compounds and found all levels met safety standards.
The fire reportedly started about 8.30am in the one-storey warehouse of Bangpoo Intermodal Systems Co (Bisco), located on 13B Road within the industrial estate’s compound.
As all doors of the warehouse were open, the fire spread quickly through the building so that its steel structure caved in. Permanent secretary for industry, Witoon Simachokdee, visited the site yesterday before he ordered the company to cease operations at its warehouse and affected buildings until inspections of the structure could be completed by an auditor.
Containers of chemical fluid were reportedly kept in the warehouse and the sound of explosions could be heard at times during the blaze.
Bisco managing director Nat Phothisoonthorn said later the 7,500-square-metre warehouse stored chemical and plastic products.
The fire started in its cold room where 110 staff were working. They were unable to contain the fire and were evacuated.
The Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand yesterday provided more than 500 first aid kits to residents around the warehouse.
Websource:Bangkok post
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/417769/warehouse-fire-does-billion-baht-damage