Governor Nisit Jansomwong visited the site yesterday (March 18) and said that the fire, which burned some two rai of the 22-rai dump, was possibly caused by a combination of hot weather and flammable garbage.
“The garbage pile contains mattresses and other flammable materials which is why it took a long time – four or five hours – to put the fire out,” the Governor said.
“The solution for now is to cover up the whole area and compact it to prevent oxygen from getting inside the garbage. This will cost B89 million. We expect the work to be completed in around a month.
“Until then, Phuket Municipality and the Department of Phuket Disaster Prevention and Mitigation will send water trucks to the site every day to damp down the garbage to prevent [another] fire."
The dump is currently overfilled. The fire broke out in dump No 5, which is supposed to hold only two layers of garbage but now has three.
“There is excess garbage because one of the incinerators is still broken. However, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has approved a budget of B530 million for repairing it. As soon as the budget arrives repairs will start,” the Governor explained.
Asked whether there had been any health effects from the smoke from the fire, he said that he had received no complaints. He added that the wind at the time had blown most of the smoke out to sea.