Chirk residents 'disappointed' after Kronospan meeting

The latest fire burned for four days

People living close to a factory that has seen three fires in as many years told a meeting "something must change".

The latest blaze at the Kronospan panelling factory in Chirk, near Wrexham, on Monday lasted four days.

The company, which employs 600 people at the site, attended an emergency town council meeting on Thursday.

However, many of the 80 residents who also attended said they were "disappointed" that many questions were left unanswered.

Sharon Briscoe said: "I'm disappointed really. We've had some answers but they managed to skirt over the difficult questions.

"Something must alter and I'm not sure it will. That's what's worrying me."

Residents complained smoke from the fires enters their homes

A fire also broke out in one of the filter towers in July 2018 following an earlier major fire in September 2017. There were also five fires in 2012 alone.

Firefighters were still damping down on Thursday after a fire started in an "isolated" log wall on Monday.

No-one was hurt but residents complained of "choking" and being "unable to sleep" due to the smoke, having been advised to keep windows and doors shut.

The town council is calling for regular independent monitoring of the air quality.

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"Nobody appeared to take ownership and I was disappointed," said councillor Jacqueline Allen.

"There didn't appear to be any concern about the damage to people's property, they couldn't monitor inside people's homes and that could prove a health risk.

"There will be full inquiry but nobody said who will be doing that inquiry.

"I would have liked a more positive attitude from Kronospan and a better response from Wrexham [county council]."

Chirk town councillor Gareth Baines criticised a lack of information from Kronospan

Kronospan said it had invested "heavily" in fire protection systems.

Director Christopher Ryan added: "We are processing one-and-a-half million tonnes of timber every year which needs to be dried.

"Sometimes you get incidents which you never envisage would happen and we just have to learn from them."

Wrexham council said it wanted to reassure the public it would listen to residents' concerns.