Firefighters, equipped with more than 20 fire trucks and five backhoes, are trying to extinguish fires at an illegal landfill site in Bang Pu sub-district of Samut Prakan, which has been raging for more than six hours.
Thick white smoke is blanketing nearby communities, affecting about 200 households. A temporary evacuation shelter has been set up at a convention hall in Bang Pu but most of the residents are refusing to evacuate.
Sampao Phrae-ngarm, a member of the Nakhon Thong village committee, said that he has advised villagers to wear face masks, to stay indoors and to close the doors and windows to keep smoke from the landfill fires out. Any villagers who need help can contact the village committee, he added.
It is reported that the illegal landfill is located on privately-owned land, whose owner sold the soil dug out from a 9.6-hectare plot for construction projects, creating a large pit about 50 metres deep.
The landowner later sought permission to use the pit for fish farming, but it was actually turned into an illegal landfill, which was ordered to close by the Bang Phu municipality about two years ago.
Samut Prakan Governor Suphamit Chinsri said that he has instructed Bang Pu municipal officials to file a complaint with the district office against the landowner for operating an illegal landfill.
