About 100 people affected by the fire still burning at a hazardous waste storage plant in Rayong province have filed a complaint against the industrial authorities who earlier approved it.
They blame the authorities for the plant's prolonged impact on their health and the environment.
Meanwhile, officials said on Wednesday they had not ruled out arson as the cause of the blaze at the shutdown waste warehousing facility in Ban Khai district. The plant's electricity supply had long been disconnected. The owner, Win Process Ltd, is in bankruptcy.
Residents of Ban Nong Pawa and Ban Khod Klang villages gathered at Wat Nong Pawa on Wednesday and filed their complaint with police from Ban Khai station.
Their complaint targeted the director-general of the Department of Industrial Works and the industrial chief of Rayong province. They asked police to take legal action against them for allowing Win Process to store toxic waste there since it opened until it was destroyed by fire early on Monday morning.
The complainants said they had suffered from the adverse impacts for over a decade. The fire needed to be extinguished as soon as possible because the smoke was blanketing their communities.
They also feared for the environmental impact when rain washes the ash from the destroyed facility out into the vicinity of their homes and farms. No officials had bothered to meet with them or given any assistance, they said.
On Wednesday firefighters continued with their efforts to put out the blaze in the Win Process warehouse compound. Backhoes were used to cover hotspots with soil and sand because the burning material could not be extinguished with water alone.
It was still too dangerous for industrial disaster investigators to enter.
Win Process was founded in 2010 as a recycling business using waste from petrochemical plants in Rayong. Its warehouses are in tambon Bang But of Ban Khai district.
In 2021 local people complained about the environmental damage caused by the plant. The Rayong Provincial Court in 2022 ordered the company to clean up toxic waste contamination and pay 20.82 million baht in compensation to the affected villagers.
The company entered bankruptcy proceedings. The industrial waste remained in its compound, stored in five buildings. It comprised wastewater, chemicals, contaminated sediment, old oil, used tyres, acid and other industrial waste including plastic scrap and circuit boards.
Kachornpong Siriwisut, an engineer with the Department of Industrial Works, said the fire began on Monday morning, at a time when it should not have been hot enough to start the blaze.
The used oil and chemicals in building 5, where the blaze reportedly started, were well contained and not highly inflammable. The fire in the building should not have spread so easily to the other warehouses, which were widely separated by roads, he said.
Rayong deputy governor Kanchai Thepworachai ruled out an electrical short circuit as the cause. The compound had been shut down and the power supply had long been disconnected. Officials had not ruled out arson as the cause, he said.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Wednesday that authorities would find the cause of the fire and if it was intentionally started, those responsible must face legal action.