Fire at Kronospan “now in recovery phase”

The fire at the Kronospan factory in Chirk is now in the “recovery phase”, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service have confirmed.

Firefighters had been at the site since the early hours of Monday morning when a fire broke out at the factory’s log yard. The incident involved a quantity of logs and wood chip material.

Today a spokesperson for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that crews were no longer in attendance. However staff on site are continuing with the process of damping down the affected wood pile.

The spokesperson added that the fire service will continue to monitor the situation.

Earlier this week the scale of the smoke coming from the Kronospan site meant that residents were asked to keep their windows and doors shut. Ysgol Y Waun also took the decision on Wednesday to keep pupils indoors all day as a precaution.

Advice was issued by Public Health Wales, however there has been criticism from members of the community and local politicians about the lack of information available about the scale of the fire.

Last night an emergency meeting of residents and representatives of Kronospan, Natural Resources Wales and Wrexham Council took place in Chirk to raise concerns and discuss the incident.

On Tuesday Clwyd South MP, Simon Baynes, also met with members of the Chirk Town Council about the incident.

Mr Baynes said that he is “keeping closely in touch with residents who have written to me about the problems and with Chirk Town Council itself” and that he is due to meet with the chief executive of Wrexham Council and Kronospan.

He added: “I wanted to express my sympathy and concern again to all the residents of Chirk and the surrounding area about the air quality problems that they have experienced over the last days due to the fire at Kronospan.

“I would also like to thank North Wales Fire & Rescue service for the great work they have done in dealing with the fire.

“I am very pleased that Wrexham Council convened a multi-agency meeting on 15th January, with key partners including North Wales Fire and Rescue, North Wales Police, Natural Resources Wales, Public Health Wales and the North Wales Emergency Planning team. The group has agreed to the deployment of Air Quality monitoring equipment and personnel provided by Natural Resources Wales to Chirk to provide actual air quality monitoring readings.

“I have also been keeping the Secretary of State for Wales, Simon Hart MP, in touch with developments at Kronospan. I will be available to meet residents in Chirk from 9am – 5pm on this Saturday, 18th January, at a walk-in surgery in the Parish Hall, Holyhead Road, Chirk LL14 5NA – please email me at [email protected] if you would like to attend or come on the day and hopefully you won’t have to wait long.

“Looking to the future, I think it is vital that the planned investigation into the causes of the fire is conducted in an open and transparent manner.

“We also need to continue the multi-agency approach and ensure that there is independent monitoring of noise and environmental emissions.

“We all want Kronospan to thrive as a business given the many benefits that it brings to Chirk and the surrounding area in terms of jobs, investment and prosperity and this will be best achieved by open and transparent communication between the company and the surrounding community.”