STA, 10 December 2019 - A fire broke out last evening at Ekol, a hazardous waste processing company in the area of Kranj, north-west, but has not polluted the air or water. It has, however, upset the locals, who are warning about the hazard the Laze industrial zone poses to the environment and public health.
Ekol estimates the damage caused by the fire, which over 100 local firefighters put out in two hours, at around EUR 40,000.
The site of the fire, which was visited by an inspector for natural and other disasters, is now safe and the company has already relaunched its business.
Preliminary tests carried out so far have shown no dangerous substances in the air or water, according to the Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief.
Kranj police excluded arson, saying the fire was caused by self-combustion in one of the containers with miscellaneous industrial waste under a projecting roof.
The fire then spread to another two containers and a truck nearby. Dangerous substances, stored at a different section of the company, did not ignite.
Ekol said today the waste from the 30-cubic-metre container with plastic waste, oil soaked rags, oils and air filters was destined to be incinerated abroad.
The fire spread to more than 100 square metres, and while 30 workers working at the industrial zone at the time were evacuated, nobody was injured.
Nevertheless, the locals from the near-by towns Laze and Stražišče are worried, even more so since several fires have broken out in hazardous waste processing companies around Slovenia in recent years, notably at Kemis in May 2017.
The locals have been warning about the hazards posed by the industrial zone for years, arguing it has an inadequate sewage and water infrastructure, which should either be properly upgraded or the industrial zone should be moved to another location.
They believe those who have issued environmental permits should be prosecuted and demand an independent review of all installations that could cause a large-scale pollution.
NGO Alpe Adria Green has said another two minor fires have broken out at Laze in recent years and emission of dangerous substances into the nearby brook has happened several times.
Since the industrial zone is located very close to homes, the NGO is worried that a major fire could put 500 to 1,000 residents of Laze and its surroundings in danger.
Playing down the worries, Tina Zupančič said Ekol was a different plant than Kemis, a Vrhnika-based company hit by a major fire which spelled an environmental disaster.
According to Zupančič, Ekol does not chemically treat waste, it merely sorts it before it is exported.
"Security at the company is at the highest level,", she said, explaining that two years ago Ekol had upgraded its fire safety, including by installing an automatic fire alert system, which provides for swift response in case of an emergency.
Last evening, the fire fighters were at the site five minutes after the alert alarm went off.
This does not convince Marko Špolad from a local civil initiative, who would like to see the results of full-fledged water tests before excluding the possibility of pollution of a nearby water source for the Škofja Loka and Ljubljana areas.
Špolad, who is afraid of an ecological disaster since Ekol has a permit to process 70 tonnes of hazardous waste a day, is determined the locals will fight such companies to leave the industrial zone.
