Up to 2,000 people were
evacuated from their homes March 29 when the Master Glove Industries Co.
plant in Pluakdaeng erupted in a major fire. Fire police, worried that
the seven tons of liquid petroleum gas, 600 kg of chlorine and other
chemicals on site might explode, evacuated 2 km of the surrounding area.
Patcharapol Panrak
A fire at a rubber-glove factory promoted the evacuation of a
Rayong neighborhood and caused about 80 million baht in damage.
Fearing an explosion, fire officials moved more than 2,000 people about
two kilometers from the Master Glove Industries Co. plant in Pluakdaeng
March 29. The plant contained more than seven tons of liquid petroleum
gas, 600 kg. of chlorine and other chemicals.
Fire police battle the
inferno at the Master Glove Industries Co. plant in Pluakdaeng.
Firefighters from the Amata City Industrial Estate,
Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate and towns of Mae Nam Khu and
Ratcholburi battled the blaze for two hours. All of the 268 employees
escaped without injury and no explosion occurred.
Workers said they heard the sound of an electrical short in a storage
area filled with gloves and cloth. Flames quickly spread to the
production facility, whose roof collapsed, and then into the rubber
plantation. About 10 rai of property was damaged.
Pluakdaeng Mayor Wongthep Khemwirat said 70 percent of the 9-rai factory
was destroyed. Fortunately, he said, the fire was controlled before the
chlorine, gas and chemicals ignited.
