The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has dispatched 10 more fire trucks and around 30 firefighters to Samut Sakhon province this morning. The crew was sent to help extinguish a fire at a scrap paper recycling facility.

 

The fire broke out around 4:30 pm on Tuesday and is still burning at the time of this report. The site is home to roughly 26 large piles of scrap paper that spans an area of 1.76 hectares — all ready for recycling.

 

Approximately 23 of these piles, valued around 180 million baht, have now been incinerated.

 

This morning, around 9am, two backhoes were spotted making their way through the scrap paper piles, allowing firefighters to douse water at the base of each pile, which is still smouldering.

 

According to a firefighter, they are experiencing a shortage of water and exhaustion, having worked non-stop from Tuesday night to put out the fire.

 

To deal with the water shortage, the Department of Public Disaster Prevention and Mitigation has installed a pump to draw water from a nearby source.

 

The local district chief officer, the district's police head, and the manager of the scrap paper recycling company have convened for an urgent meeting. They discussed effective measures to tackle the fire.

 

Predictions are that the fire should be fully extinguished three days after the onset.

 

Top photo courtesy of Thai PBS

 

-- 2024-05-01

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The urgent meeting will produce enough paperwork to replace the incinerated recycled paper. 

 

No net loss therefore no problem? 

My parents had a paper shop. It blew away.

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

This morning, around 9am, two backhoes were spotted making their way through the scrap paper piles, allowing firefighters to douse water at the base of each pile, which is still smouldering.

Of course these backhoes they use on site, all have spark arresters fitted to their exhaust, so they couldn't have initially started the fire. Thailand Safety first. 

12 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Of course these backhoes they use on site, all have spark arresters fitted to their exhaust, so they couldn't have initially started the fire. Thailand Safety first. 

Here is an example of what the lack of a spark arrestor can cause in a hazardous environment.

 

A fire at Thai Oil, 1999, was caused when an employee left a valve open allowing a storage tank to overflow.

 

A security guard detected a strong smell and notified the shift control who sent two operators to investigate. They drove to investigate in a car, not fitted with a spark arrestor and bang,  the explosion was so big that it was heard and shook buildings in Pattaya about 20kms away. 

The fire spread from one tank to 4 others before it was contained and extinguished. There were 8 fatalities and 13 hospitalised with serious injuries.

 

https://www.scribd.com/presentation/491695611/ADIS-P-4-1-03-7-Thai-Oil-Refinery-Explosion-1999-Aug-2017-15

The Chairman of the Thai Origami Society has laid a plastic wreath at the site.