Fire at Chirk's Kronospan continues to smoulder
The remains of the fire at Kronospan will continue to smoulder for some time.
Although North Wales Fire Service has stood down its crews, the fire is still issuing smoke.
Wrexham Council has reassured residents that the smoke coming from the fire at the factory is from the raw timber and is not related to the plant itself.
A group of residents took part in a protest at the weekend standing opposite the Kronospan factory wearing face masks and with banners reading 'we want clean air'.
See also:
Councillor Gareth Jones praised those who had taken part in the protest and urged others to support them.
In a statement Wrexham Council said: "We are working on a multi agency basis with the police, fire and rescue service, Natural Resources Wales and Public Health Wales in relation to the fire at Kronospan.
"The fire is under control, however the nature of it is such that it will continue to smoulder for some time.
"We are aware that residents may be concerned about the effects of the smoke but can provide reassurance that, whilst perhaps unpleasant, the smoke is resulting from raw timber burning and is not related to the plant itself."
The North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said while the incident has moved to the recovery phase which means crews have been able to leave the site, it would continue to monitor the situation.
"Kronospan staff are now continuing with the process of damping down the affected wood pile," said a fire service spokesman.
"There is now very little smoke coming from the site but there is an odour left by the amount of burnt material which may be of concern to residents in addition to being unpleasant."
The public health advice released said: "As we enter the recovery phase residents are advised to start to vent their properties to remove odours by opening windows.
"Odours associated with fires can cause annoyance, stress and anxiety, nausea, headaches or dizziness. These are common reactions to odours rather than to the substances that cause the smell.
"We are able to detect odours at levels that are much lower than can cause harm to health.”
The air quality monitoring unit deployed by Natural Resources Wales has now been stood down. The data collected during the monitoring is being analysed by Public Health Wales and the results will be available in the future.
