Chirk residents need reassurance following Kronospan fire, says politician
Residents in Chirk need reassurance that they live in a safe and healthy environment following a week-long fire at Kronospan, according to a Welsh politician.
Assembly Member Llyr Gruffyd, Plaid Cymru Shadow Minister for Environment and Rural Affairs, is calling for an independent inquiry following the blaze.
He said: "It's the third fire there in just three years and it burned for a week causing pollution across the town and further afield.
"It took 48 hours for air quality monitoring equipment to be put in place, which missed the worst of the pollution, but nevertheless it detected formaldehyde, which is a known carcinogen, in the air, which as you can imagine is causing a huge worry to the population locally.
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"We need an explanation in the wake of these events. We need to hear what the Welsh Government is doing to ensure that this doesn't happen again."
He asked for party members to join him in calling for an independent inquiry to establish why the fire raged on for so long and why the response from agencies was so "sluggish".
"We also need independent air quality monitoring equipment to be permanently sited there," he added.
"Local residents deserve a robust response from the Welsh Government on this and at the moment I'm afraid they're not getting it."
