Shropshire Star

Big clean-up after blaze at Kronospan factory in Chirk

A major clean-up operation is under way after a blaze broke out at one of the region's largest factories.

Published
The blaze at Kronospan. Photo: Councillor Terry Evans.

The fire broke out at Kronospan, on Holyhead Road, in Chirk, just before 10pm on Tuesday. No-one was hurt in the blaze.

About 30 firefighters from across the region including Oswestry went to the scene along with the police and ambulance service.

The fire is believed to have been confined to one of the SEKA filter towers at the factory, which makes medium density fibreboard.

No-one was evacuated from the plant, which employs 600 people.

A North Wales Fire Service spokesman said the cause was possibly related to a transformer unit.

Fire crews from Chirk, Llangollen, Johnstown and Oswestry and the aerial ladder platform from Wrexham were on the scene. It took almost three hours to deal with the fire.

Kronospan spokeswoman Candida Pryce-Jones said: "We can confirm that there was a fire affecting the SEKA filter at Kronospan Chirk.

"North Wales Fire Service was called shortly before 10pm and attended site to support our own efforts in extinguishing the fire.

"The incident was quickly brought under control and by 1am all fire crews had been stood down and left site.

"A detailed investigation is currently under way involving the fire service and our own specialists to determine the exact cause of the fire.

"However, the first indications are that the cause was an electrical fault.

"As is normal practice, an ambulance attended the scene, but thankfully there were no injuries."

Residents posted photos of the fire on social media, many worried about the safety of employees.

They also praised local firefighters, who have spent hundreds of hours over the last fortnight dealing with the mountain fires above Llangollen.

Councillor Terry Evans who represents Chirk on Wrexham Borough Council said he was concerned about any pollution from the fire and said he would be speaking to environmental health officers.